Loonakids: Start All Over
by MileyLoonaticsFan96
Summary: A series of flashbacks to stories not told of when the Loonakids were in high school and apprenticing, all taking place during the celebration of Kelly, Ryan, Sarah, and Michael's 16th birthday. Sequel to "Here We Go Again" Season premiere!
1. Chapter 1

Loonakids: Start All Over

Alright, I'll just lead with it: this one is going to be longer. See, watching all these shows with good ideas for episodes of this gave me this idea and now...well, here it is. Please enjoy anyway and stick with me. Introducing the season premiere of Loonakids Season 3!

Chapter 1

Nadine Bunny sat down on a couch in the living room of HQ. "I can't believe we're all finally 16!"

"I know," said Kelly Coyote, her best friend, "After all we've been through, it seemed like this would never come."

"Remind me again what all it was that I missed?" Brenda Sanders asked.

"Oh…the Daughters of the Dark, the kids' 10th and 14th birthdays were big deals…high school and apprenticing," Daniella Runner, Kelly's mother's triplet sister, answered.

"Really?" asked Austin Wolfe, Kelly's boyfriend, "I don't think we've heard all of that."

"Huh, you'd think we'd have told you," said Sarah, Kelly's little sister, "A lot happened there. Of course, some of it didn't really involve magic."

"There you go," said Tech E. Coyote, Sarah and Kelly's father.

"Hmm…what about that time we went off on a fathers-sons fishing trip?" Benny Bunny asked.

"Oh, and we got into trouble in school because of…" Lucy, Benny's little sister, thought that over. "Oh no! No, no! Not about Kelly in front of Austin!"

"Why not?" asked Jack Duck, Kelly and Sarah's cousin, "Let's see…"

_Four years ago…_

Nadine (Benny and Lucy's older sister) spooned some glop from her plate and let it fall again in lumps. "Can you believe the stuff they force down our throats here?"

"No way!" Lucy answered, "Who eats anything like this?"

The two of them and Kelly then heard some weird growling noises and turned their attention to Sarah, who was carnivorously devouring one of the burgers. She stopped abruptly when she noticed her three friends looking at her. "What?" she asked through the food.

Kelly picked up a cookie. "You know, since this was the last one I was going to break it up and share it with you guys, but I can just toss it right in."

Sarah put down her burger.

Just then, another student ran in. "Here she comes!" he said, "Here she comes! It's the Cracker!" As soon as the boy ran away, a bigger girl came in.

"That's the new girl," said Kelly, "Why do they call her 'the Cracker'?"

"Wait for it…" Lucy said.

The Cracker sat down at a table, picked up some walnuts, and enclosed them in her fist, breaking them in half and dropping them on the table.

"Even from here it hurts!" Lucy said.

The boy came up to them. "I know, right? Rumor has it, at her old school, when they kicked her out, she almost destroyed the whole place and they had to call animal control! It took six dog catchers and a giant net to bring her down!"

"Drake, people make those rumors up," Kelly said, "Remember when Sarah, Ryan, Michael, and I joined the school and somebody spread a rumor that our whole family ate roadrunner?"

Drake leaned back. "I didn't know you guys then." He walked off.

"Exactly my point," Kelly said, "We need to get to know people before we judge them. You'd think two years of training to be superheroes would teach you that. I don't care what everyone says. I know what it's like to be the new kid and I am going over there. And, besides, even if she is a bully, it's not like she's going to pull anything with Mrs. Racer here."

Sarah turn around to look at their teacher, who was pouring a glass of water…and _with _her glasses on, she missed the glass completely. "Yeah. Eyes like a hawk."

Nadine looked at her best friend. "Tell you what: you go try to make friends with the Cracker and I'll stay here and start writing your will."

"Ooh!" Sarah said, "Put me down for all her shoes." Kelly looked at her sister. "I mean 'good luck.'"

"Ah, the Fellowship of the Weenies," said Kelly. With that, she walked over to the Cracker's table and sat down. "Hi. I'm Kelly." The raccoon just looked at her. "You know, I used to be new here. But now I'm old here. Well, not _old _old, like this meatloaf!" She giggled. The Cracker showed her the nut thing. "Neat trick. You know, I saw _The Nutcracker _once." The Cracker stared her down. "Loved it."

The Cracker smiled. "Got any lipstick?"

Kelly smiled back. "Yeah." She fished through her bag and handed her one. "This color will look great on you." The Cracker snatched it. "I can tell we're gonna be great friends."

_Five minutes later…_

Kelly ran back to the table, the lipstick smeared all over her face. Nadine, Lucy, and Sarah took one look at her and jumped. "Call animal control." The Cracker came up behind her and tilted her head a couple times, cracking her neck. Kelly winced at the sound. "She's right behind me, isn't she?" The three girls nodded. Kelly reluctantly turned around and faced the Cracker, who cracked her nose a couple times. "Anybody got a net?"

_At HQ…  
__20 minutes later…_

Daniella walked into the foyer, talking on her cell phone, to meet Lexi (the Bunny litter's mother), Wendy (Jack's mother), and Sophie (the coyote litter's mother). "Don't worry, Tech. Just enjoy that fathers-sons-Slam fishing trip." There was a knock on the door. "We'll make sure nothing harms our little girls." She answered the door and her smile disappeared. "Gotta go." She hung up.

Kelly was on the other side. She had made some time to rinse out her fur, of course, but now her ears were tied to her arms.

"Dare I ask what happened?" asked Daniella.

Kelly walked in. "Oh, just the new girl at school—"

"Say no more," said Sophie, going over to help her daughter, "Man, didn't anyone try to help you?"

Sarah walked in under the same condition, followed by Nadine. "That would be us."

Lucy walked in last. She was perfectly fine. "Boy, am I glad I stayed behind!"

Kelly groaned as her mother started untangling her. "I can't believe this. OW!"

"Sorry!" Sophie instantly apologized.

Kelly finally pulled herself free. "Man, all I was trying to do was be nice, and now I'm a great, big target!"

Sarah started wrestling herself free. "And thanks to you, so am I! OW!"

"Again, sorry!" Sophie said, pulling free her youngest (at the time) daughter's ears.

Nadine was already smoothed out, thanks to Lexi. "Not to mention me. Boy, if I'd taken the chance to move in with Katrina Horn for a year and skipped the rest of the apprenticing, my life would be a whole lot simpler."

Kelly just massaged her ears gently.

"First thing tomorrow, you are going to tell that principal," Lexi said.

"And be a snitch?!" Kelly cried, "No way, no how! Not even if it saves my tail!"

"Then I guess one of us is just going to have to go down there to protect you from the Cookie," said Wendy, having heard the story from Nadine while Lexi was straightening her out.

"Uh…Aunt Wendy, she's not the _Cookie_, she's the _Cracker_," Kelly corrected.

"I don't care what kind of snack food she is!" Wendy said.

"I hate to say it, but Wendy's right," Sophie said.

"Thanks! Hey!"

"Look, the point is," Daniella said, "If _you're_ not going to do anything, one of us has to do something."

"Oh, come on!" Kelly said, "Can't you just allow us to use our powers once in private?"

"No can do," said Daniella, shaking her head.

"Well then…Aunt Lexi!" Kelly thought out loud, quickly, "Can't you just teach us one of Uncle Ace's special moves?"

Lexi sighed. "You mean, like this?" She swiped her hand through the air and did a battle stance.

"What's so special about that?" Lucy asked.

Lexi snapped her fingers and the pineapple on the nearby table split in four.

"Wow!" Sarah said.

Kelly looked at Lexi, hopefully. "Can you teach me that?"

Lexi scoffed. "Are you kidding? You're only supposed to use violence as a last resort, let alone your powers!"

"When is that? When she yanks out our intestines and wears them as a belt?!"

"OK, I have a move that'll work for you," said Wendy, "Make some room!" Everyone backed out of the way. "OK, Nadine!" Nadine came over. "You be the bully and I'll be Kelly. Now show me what you got." She started to pretend to walk in place.

Nadine started to say something. "I'd rather not." She started to leave, but Kelly pushed her back in place.

"Come on, I'm not gonna hurt you," Wendy assured her before going back to her walk, "Now here I am, walking down the hall. Green eyes, all perky—come on! Give me something!"

Nadine reluctantly leaned in. "Hey, Kelly! Give me your lipstick!"

Wendy shrieked and ran away. "Principal! Principal! Help me, help me!" The girls stared after her for a few seconds before she came back. "That's how you handle a bully."

"You want me to run away?" Kelly asked.

"Like a free-range chicken!" Wendy proceeded to put her hands on her shoulders and flap her arms like wings, squealing: "BAWK! Buck, buck, ba-gawk! Buck…" She walked up the stairs, doing so.

Daniella looked at them. "I'm with her." She did what her sister had done. "Buck-buck-bawk!" She walked away.

Lexi and Sophie looked at each other.

"What they said," Sophie said.

"Yeah," Lexi said, walking away with Sophie following.

Lucy sighed and looked at her sisters and friends. "It's too bad they won't teach us anything—even though it's exactly what they're supposed to do. I mean, just the way Mom puma'd that pineapple scared the juice out of me!"

_DING!_ Kelly got an idea. "That's it! None of us need to _be_ a puma. We just need the Cracker to _think_ one of us is one!"

"Ah, Lucy likey!"

Kelly did the hand-swipe thing. "Hoy-yaw! Ha!" She smacked her hand on one of the pineapple chunks and whimpered. "Ow."

_Now…_

"So let me get this straight," said Brenda, "You're a full Witch and a half-Vampire now, but the best you could do four years ago was injure your hand on a pineapple?"

Kelly scoffed and noticed that Wendy was cutting pineapples right then. "I'll have you know that I can do it now!" She did the same thing…with the same results. "Or not." She started rubbing her hand.

Austin looked at Tech and the guys. "So while all this was going on, what was happening with you?"

"Let's see…" Ryan, Tech and Sophie's eldest son, said, "uh…oh! I remember! We got about halfway to the lake on the first of our three days and it started pouring snow…"

_Four years ago…_

The guys were all shivering as the rundown motel's owner unlocked the room.

"Thanks for giving us the room, Gunner," Ace (Lexi's husband and the bunny litter's father) said.

"You know, you're lucky I had this room," said Gunner, "The health department wanted to close me down last week."

Tech stopped shivering and looked at him suspiciously. "Why's that?"

"Oh, bugs. Big bugs. But don't worry, we're fumigating all the other rooms."

"'C-C-Cause you already did this one," Duck (Jack's dad and Wendy's husband) assumed.

Gunner thought about that one. "OK." He unlocked the room and let the boys in. "Welcome to the honeymoon suite!"

Ryan dropped his bags. "Huh. You know, when I pictured my honeymoon, it didn't involve the red satin wallpaper or the big heart-shaped bed—or my dad!"

"Well, at least it's better than bringing your mother-in-law along," said Gunner, "That was a nightmare!" The guys all looked at each other. "Well, I'll go get Frankie to bring you boys some fresh towlettes." He walked out.

"You mean 'towels'," Robert (Daniella's son) corrected.

Gunner thought that over. "OK." He walked away.

Michael (the youngest coyote at the time) closed the door. "I wanna go home."

"Relax, son," Tech said, "So we've hit a bump in the road. Let's look at this as an adventure." He went to turn on the lights…and the switch he did hit turned on a disco ball and romantic music.

"I really wanna go home," Jack said.

"It's not that bad," said Duck, turning off the switch Tech had hit, "It kind of reminds me of poker night in my uncle's RV."

There was a knock on the door and Tech answered it to reveal a ventriloquist dummy on the other side. He looked at his sons and friends. "Remember, it's still an adventure. It's just an adventure with a puppet."

"You guys in the honeymoon suite?" asked the dummy in a voice that sounded a lot like Gunner, "Awkward!"

Gunner walked in, carrying the dummy. "Frankie! How many times have I told you not to tease the guests?! That is no way to get repeat business!" He looked at the guys and smiled. "Enjoy your stay!" He left.

Jack locked the door behind him. "We are sleeping in shifts!"

_At the school…  
__The next morning…_

The Cracker walked into the hall and everybody scattered.

Then Kelly walked in and did a few battle stances. "Hiya!" Sarah and Nadine followed her in as she made her way over to the Cracker, Lucy staying away a distance, until the four were right in front of her. "Hi-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!" The Cracker stared her down. "That's right. Kelly like a puma! Hiya!"

"Oh, yeah!" Sarah said, "She's a bad puma! You better run, Cracker! Go ahead start running!" Nothing.

"Why isn't she running?" asked Nadine. The Cracker answered that by cracking her neck again.

"I'm warning you!" Kelly said, trying to regain her composure through the fear, "Kelly like a puma!" She let down her arms. "Kelly like a puma?" Nothing. "Hiya? OK, not a puma. But I am a coyote and I can run like a puma!" She raced off, Nadine and Sarah following close behind as they ran into the bathroom, not noticing the Cracker following.

_In the forest…_

Jack was asleep in the bed while the guys were packing up their things. Suddenly, he started giggling and groaning. "Guys, stop!" They all looked at him, confused. "Guys! Stop tickling my feet!"

"What're talking about, Jack?" asked Robert, "We're over here!"

Jack's eyes popped open and he shrieked like a little girl and scrambled out of the bed. "Bugs! Big bugs!" He ran over. "I REALLY WANNA GO HOME!"

Gunner came in, pushing a cart. "Not without your deluxe, complimentary breakfast!"

Ace sighed and giggled. "Well, uh…we were actually gonna leave about now. See if we can't salvage what's left of this trip."

"Oh, I don't know about that, the roads are still snowed in. Looks like you're stuck." The guys looked at each other again, this time in desperation. Gunner closed the door. _BOOM! _Gunner opened the door and revealed a wall of snow. "What do you know? Looks like we're all stuck!"

Jack raced over to the window and opened it to reveal another snow wall. "Yipe! He's right! We are stuck!"

"Well-look-on-the-bright-side-at-least-he-doesn't-have-the-dummy!" Rev (Daniella's husband and Robert's father) said.

Gunner pulled up Frankie. "Who're you calling a dummy, dummy?" He was a horrible ventriloquist.

Duck looked at the guys. "I've seen this movie before. We don't make it to the sequel!"

_At the school…_

The Cracker came out of the bathroom and shook her hands off. She walked away, whistling.

Nadine, Kelly, and Sarah all came out, their clothes slightly torn and their ears tied together.

"Talk about hard of hearing," Kelly said.

Sarah giggled, but, in doing so, she tugged on them, injuring them again. "Don't make me laugh!"

Drake ran into the hall. "Run! She's coming!"

"Drake! Slow down!" said Nadine as Lucy came over to help them, "She's in the cafeteria."

"Not the Cracker! There's a new girl at school! She's even scarier!" Drake ran off.

"Where's the Cracker?" The girls' eyes widened at that voice. They slowly turned to face Daniella as she came into the hall under a spell to disguise her as a teenager. "Hey, girls!" She dropped a skateboard on the floor. "Where do I park my board?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"She seriously cast a spell to make it look like she was a teenager and zapped a fake name into the school records just to protect you from a bully?" Brenda asked.

"Yeah, I believe that was the order of things," said Sarah. She sighed. "Anyway…"

_Four years ago…_

"Aunt Danni," Kelly said, "what're you doing here?"

"Quiet, I'm trying to blend in!" Daniella snapped, pointing out her outfit. She had on a mini skirt with pink tights, a lavender tank top, sneakers, and a rose cardigan. Her hair was pulled back in pigtails held up by light pink velvet ribbons.

"OK, you can't—" Kelly realized that there were too many people there. "Oh, follow me." She started to walk away, but Nadine and Sarah didn't follow fast enough and were tugged again. "OK, just back up." They complied, Lucy following.

Daniella looked at the crowd. "Run along. Go about your business. Nothing to see here that you can't see at the circus." She followed them into the deserted hall.

"Alright." Kelly said when they'd settled. "Aunt Danni, you can't stay here."

"Look, you can't use your powers, you don't have any magic yet, you said you weren't going to the principal, and you're not wearing your running shoes. So I am going to do something about this whether you like it or not."

"Could you at least disguise your voice and make this guise a little more convincing?" Lucy suggested.

"Oh. Duh." Daniella zapped herself. "How's this?" Her voice has gone down by about 10 years.

"Perfect," said Sarah, "Now, a little help here?"

Daniella sighed and zapped them. All three girls now had their ears back and they were also wearing new clothes:

Nadine had on a hot pink dress top and lavender leggings and flip-flops.

Kelly had on her standard flowing-sleeve burgundy top and cowgirl boots, but she also had a pleated, ribbon-belted mini skirt.

Sarah had on a blouse with a beaded lace bodice, a ¾-sleeve icy-blue sweater, a knee-length short skirt, and snow white flip-flops with snowflake print on the arches.

Kelly gasped. "This is amazing! But wait, this stuff wasn't in our closets."

"Now don't tell me you haven't heard of the fashionista spell? Zaps up clothes based on your personal style preferences. Uh, you're welcome."

Nadine giggled. "Wow. Why haven't you ever done something like this before?"

"There are some spells only the greatest Witches can do. 'Nuff said. Now let's get going. This 'puma' is hungry for some Cracker!" She walked off into the cafeteria and the girls followed. Daniella walked into the cafeteria and tapped the Cracker on the back, making her turn to face her. "You're in my seat."

The Cracker looked her up and down and scoffed. Honestly, in the mini skirt, cardigan, and pigtails, not to mention the major youth factor, Daniella did _not _look very threatening. The Cracker picked up her nuts, stood up, and showed her the nut trick. "I don't think so!"

Daniella scoffed. "Cute." She picked up a nearby jock's baseball and discreetly zapped it. "But can you do this?" She squeezed it and it practically disintegrated under her grip.

The Cracker regained her composure. "I'm not scared of you."

Both girls put their hands on their hips. They stared each other down for a couple seconds before Daniella crossed her arms. Finally, the Cracker whimpered and ran away.

Kelly went over to the door and called after her: "That's right! You better run! Because she's the big cheese now! And the cheese always covers the cracker!" She snapped her fingers and walked away.

Lucy looked at Daniella. "What'd you do? You didn't use magic, did you?"

"Of course not! I used ESP: Extra-Sensory Puma!"

_In the forest…_

Jack and Duck were both pacing.

"We're never gonna make it out!" Jack whined.

"We're gonna die in here!" Duck whined.

"Don't be so overly-dramatic!" Tech said, "The snow plow's gonna be here soon!"

Gunner, sitting on a chair and holding Frankie, hung up the phone. "Bad news, fellas. Plow won't be here till morning."

Tech looked at the ceiling. "Oh, come on!"

"I wanna live," Jack said, "I wanna live! I WANT TO LIVE!" He ran for the door and opened it, but yiped again at the sight of the snow wall. "We gotta at least try to dig through again!"

"With what?" Gunner asked, "You broke all our best plastic spoons!"

He started operating Frankie (his lips were clearly moving): "Oh, please. He stole all that stuff from Madame Lou's."

"Madame who's?"

"Madame Lou's."

"Madame who's?"

"Madame Lou's."

"Madame who—"

"Forget it!" Jack yelled, "Who needs spoons? I'm gonna ram it!" He came back to the bed and looked at the guys. "I'll see you on the other side, men." He gave a "mighty Tarzan" yell and ran for the wall, running into it…and getting stuck in it. "I can't feel my beak!" he called from inside the snow.

_At the school…_

The Cracker walked into the hall and saw the girls at their lockers. She walked over to them.

Daniella came out of the girls' bathroom. "Don't even think about it." The girls whirled around to see her and the Cracker. "In fact, don't even think about thinking about it."

Drake came up. "Yeah, you heard her. Back off!" He poked the Cracker in the shoulder and walked away. The Cracker stomped her foot and walked away in the opposite direction.

"Oh, yeah," said Kelly, "Life at school just got a whole lot better."

"Tell me about it," said Sarah. She then noticed something. "Hey! Look, Travis King is coming this way! He is so cute!"

A handsome male hare came up to them. "Hey, Kelly, Nadine, Lucy, Sarah."

"Hi, Travis," all four swooned.

"_WHOA, whoa, hold it, hold it."_

_Now…_

Austin stopped them. "Now you've lost me."

"Hang on, it gets better," said Daniella.

_Four years ago…_

"So," Travis said, "I'm throwing a party at the beach on Saturday and was wondering if you girls wanted to—"

"No, we can't," Daniella intercepted.

"Actually, I was talking to—"

"I said 'no,' now move, move! MOVE!"

Travis ran away.

"He seemed like a sweet boy. Those are the ones you gotta watch."

_Now…_

"OK, I'm back," said Austin, "Continue."

Daniella sighed. "As I was saying…"

_Four years ago…_

Lucy looked at Daniella. "Aunt Danni! What're you doing?! I had my eyes on him!"

"I never realized what dangers lurked in these halls!" Daniella said, "Bullies, boys—and that chicken pot pie they served today? Nasty! From now on, we are brown-bagging it!"

"Whoa, you're not saying you're gonna stay, are you?" asked Sarah.

"I have to," said Daniella, "If I leave, the Cracker's gonna go back to cracking." She pulled out her bag and reached in. "Now take off your shoes…" She pulled some shoes from her bag. "…and put these on."

Kelly took the shoes and looked at her youth-disguised aunt. "Aunt Danni, these look like nurse's shoes."

"Safest shoes ever made…in any dimension, probably. These waxy floors are a broken hip waiting to happen." Daniella put up her bag and walked away.

Kelly looked at Sarah. "Nurse's shoes."

"Well, look at the bright side," Sarah said. She then thought that over. "I'm sorry, there is no bright side to this."

_In the forest…_

Gunner was asleep in the chair, Frankie still in his arms.

The guys were watching Spanish soap operas on the TV.

"Poor Pablo," Jack said, crying, "She's breaking his heart!"

Robert put his arm around his cousin. "Why do they always go for the bad hombres?"

Duck turned off the TV. "Well, look at us. We're bonding!"

"You're right, Duck," said Benny, "Now that we've done it, let's get out of here." He started to leave, but Ace stopped him.

"I want to as much you do, Benny-Boy," Ace said, "but where's the snow plow?"

"There is no snow plow," said Frankie. They all looked at him.

"Gunner?" asked Tech.

"No, it's Frankie! Gunner's asleep!"

Michael leaned against Tech. "Dad…what's happening?"

Tech sighed. "Relax, Michael. I'm sure he's just talking in his sleep!"

"Oh, good work, Einstein," Frankie said, "Now shut your snout and listen! He never did call for a snow plow, but there's a heater register behind the nightstand. You can open it and get to your shuttle."

Jack ran over there, got on his knees, and shook Frankie's hand. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! What am I doing?" He went back to the group as Slam moved the nightstand.

"He was right!" Ryan said, "Let's get out of here!"

"Take me with you!" Frankie called.

Jack looked at them. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but, in a strange way, he did save our lives."

"Listen to yourself, Jack!" Robert yelled, "He's a doll!"

"You ain't so bad yourself, birdie-boy," said Frankie.

"I guess that in some part of his brain, Gunner wants us to do this," said Benny.

"But it's stealing…I think," Tech said.

"Just leave ten bucks on the table," said Frankie, "He got me at a garage sale for five."

Ace got out the money. "Works for me." Jack snatched the money, put it by the phone on the table, took Frankie, and ran out.

As soon as they were all gone, Gunner opened his eyes and took the money. "Works every time."

_At the school…  
__After lunch…_

Kelly walked up to Sarah and Nadine and Lucy, now wearing pink and purple floral dress top with a red, white, and blue fringe (for those of you who don't know, that's a skirt-pants combo) and some leather cowgirl boots.

"Like the outfit," commented Sarah.

"Yeah," Kelly said, "So did I until I came back here."

"What happened?" asked Nadine.

Daniella walked up in the exact same outfit. "Hey, girlfriend!" Sarah, Nadine, and Lucy all stared at her in shock. "Better get ready for class." She walked off.

"Wow," said Lucy.

"I know," said Kelly, "She's making us wear the same thing so that, if I get lost, she can say 'I'm looking for someone dressed exactly like me.'" She groaned. "Why didn't I just tell the principal in the first place? Sure, I'd be a snitch, but at least I'd be a snitch without a computer tracking device."

"Say what?" Sarah asked.

"It's in my choker," Kelly said, pointing at the flower choker she was wearing. She sighed and then thought of something. "Wait a minute…what if Aunt Danni wasn't here anymore?"

"The Cracker would you bust you open like a piñata," suggested Nadine, "and she'd probably use Dummy Drake as the stick?"

"Perfect."

"Am I missing something?"

"Just go get the principal after last period and meet me back here."

"Wait," said Lucy, "what about Aunt Danni?"

Kelly stopped a girl. "Hey, June! This choker would look great with that outfit." She took off her necklace and put it around June's neck.

"Uh, thanks, Kelly." June walked off.

With that, the bell rang and all four girls headed for class.

Daniella came back into the hall with a GPS. "Where's that girl going? We don't have gym this period!" She ran off.

_After class…_

Kelly walked into the hall with a walkie-talkie.

"_OK,_" Sarah's voice came from the other end of the line, "_We've got the principal and we're coming down the hall now._"

"Perfect," said Kelly, "The fox is on the move."

"_Wow, someone thinks a lot of themselves._"

"It means I'm going in!" Kelly shut off the walkie-talkie and went into the cafeteria, where everyone was gathering their things. She looked for the kid nearest to the Cracker and decided on Drake. "Drake! I have some bad news. Daniella was arm-wrestling with the principal and accidentally snapped his wrist like a twig. He had to kick her out of school."

"Daniella got expelled?!" Drake cried, "I'm doomed!" He ran away.

The Cracker cornered Kelly. "Sorry to hear about your friend."

"Yeah," said Kelly, "I'm helpless now."

The Cracker cracked her neck again, advancing on her.

Kelly whimpered. "Sarah? Nadine?! Lucy! Mrs. Racer?"

The practically-blind teacher was cleaning her glasses on the other side of the room.

The Cracker cracked her nose again.

Kelly whimpered.

_Five minutes later…_

Kelly was lying on the salad bar, covered in salad dressing.

"Looks pretty good," said the Cracker, "but it still needs something. Oh, yeah. Nuts!" She did the nut thing one last time.

Sarah ran in with Nadine and noticed the situation. "We're a little late, aren't we?"

"Just a smidge!" Kelly snapped.

The principal walked in, followed by Lucy and cleared his throat to acknowledge his presence. The Cracker hurriedly put down the nuts, but she'd just been caught red-handed.

_ANOTHER five minutes later…_

The principal pulled the Cracker over to Kelly, whose fur Sarah was still rinsing out. "You did the right thing coming to me, girls. She's not gonna bother anyone in this school again." He looked at the Cracker. "You got something you wanna say, young lady?"

"Sorry, Coyote," said the Cracker.

"It's OK," said Kelly as Sarah finished fixing her.

"Alright, Henrietta Laverne," said the principal, dragging off the Cracker, "Let's go."

As soon as they were gone, all four girls burst out into giggles.

"Henrietta Laverne?" Lucy giggled.

"At least now we know why she's so mean," Kelly said.

Daniella came in and sighed, zapping herself back to normal. "Good thing that's over. I was running out of fake dangers to protect you from."

"Say what?" Kelly asked, running over there.

"I only used all this to get you to do the right thing and go to the principal, like you should've done in the first place!"

"So you did all this to teach me a lesson?"

"Exactly! You've heard of reverse psychology. Welcome to reverse Witch-ology."

"Well, you better run, 'cause this coyote's like a puma! Hiya!"

Daniella shrieked and ran off. "Principal! Principal! Help me, help me!"

_Now…_

"Wow," said Brenda.

"I know," said Kelly.

"Wait, what happened to Frankie?" asked Brenda.

Suddenly, the puppet appeared by the couch. "Ta-da!" Brenda almost screamed when she jumped back at that. Archer, the family dog, appeared behind it. "Ha! I love that!" Brenda kicked him. "Ow! Watch the tail!"

Brenda sighed. "You scared me! Any sane—or insane, rather—person would've thought that puppet was possessed!"

"Oh, like Kelly a few months back?" Ryan pointed out.

"I remember that!" said Sarah, "To think it all started because we wanted a vacation. We should not have gone to Peru."

_About three months ago…_

The group poured out of the hotel in Acme Peru (except for Slam, who had stayed behind to watch the kids, and Brenda, who had stayed behind to watch the town).

"I sure hope we're doing something fun on this vacation," said Duck.

"Oh, trust me, we are," said Ryan.

A tour guide came up. "Welcome to Acme Peru. I am Louis. Are you ready for today's archaeological dig?"

Duck glared at the coyote father and son, knowing they must be behind this. "Seriously?"

"At least you came prepared for the beach," said Sarah, pulling a pail and shovel out of his pack.

"What do you use for a microscope?" Tech asked, "Something so old it was designed by Anthony van Leeuwenhoek?" He laughed. No one else quite got it, though.

"Tech, honey," Sophie said, "I love you when I say this: I've heard better trash talk from mimes."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gabby played in the pile of wrapping paper from Kelly's just-opened gifts. I won't waste time going through them.

"You know," Brenda said, "you forgot to mention when you got back from Peru that Kelly had been possessed."

"Huh, you'd think we would've mentioned it," said Kelly, "Anyway…"

_Three months ago…_

"Man, that bus ride up the mountain was cool!" said Jack as the group made their way into a clearing at the top of the mountain.

"I know," said Lucy, "The rope over the ledge was so thin."

"I was always afraid we were going to fall off the edge and plummet to a fiery death," said Lexi.

"At least we're all OK," said Austin, "Right, Wendy?"

Wendy came up, dragged by Duck. "Stop the bus, we're gonna die!"

"Wendy! Wendy!" Austin shouted, "We're off the bus!"

Wendy sat on a rock and started panting. "Why can't I breathe?"

"Because we're up 12,000 feet," said Louis.

"Oh," said Wendy, "Good."

"Uh, Louis?" asked Duck, "I have a question?"

"Ah…" Louis walked over to him. "Is it about our beautiful architecture? Perhaps, the ancient legends of our kings and queens? Or, maybe, you are curious…about the sacrifices!" Everyone backed up as he pretended to stick a sword through his own chest. "They were said to have been taking place on this very spot!"

"I just wanted to know where the bathroom is!" said Duck, "Otherwise, the sacrifices are gonna be the second worst thing to happen 'on this-a very spot!'"

Louis sighed. "Down the road." He gave him a large, rectangular stick. "You will need this."

"Is this a key or something?"

"No, the door is open. This is for the spiders."

"I need a stick this big to kill some spiders?"

"Oh, no, it will not kill them. It will just knock them out long enough for you to go."

Duck's eyes widened. "OK…" He walked off.

"Now, everyone, allow me to take you on a journey to the past," said Louis.

"Oh!" spoke up Jack, "I wanna go back to this morning when I wasn't on a big pile of dirt!" He closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen.

Sophie tapped him on the shoulder. "Still here."

Jack groaned in disappointment.

"This 'dirt' happens to contain many priceless artifacts of our history." Louis walked over to a statue. "This is a statue of—"

"Princess Zaria," Ryan interrupted, "the ruler of this land hundreds of years ago."

"Correct," said Louis, "In fact, she had a beautiful crown forged just for her coronation by—"

"Her high priest," Kelly added, "But she never got to become queen before she perished."

Louis looked at Sophie and Tech.

"Yeah, you get used to it," said Sophie.

Tech walked up to him. "I also know that the crown was never found. I think it's because all the archaeologists were looking in the wrong place. I submit to you, Louis, that there's a secret antechamber hidden somewhere in the tomb for centuries and yet to be discovered!"

Ace came forward. "You know, I should probably apologize in advance for…" He looked at them all. "…well, everyone."

_10 minutes later…_

Tech was examining a tree with Ryan.

Jack came up with a magazine. He rolled up the magazine and held it up to his beak as he snuck up behind Tech and Ryan. "_Who dares defile my throne?!_"

Tech screamed and jumped into Ryan's arms.

Ryan screamed. "Don't melt my face!"

The two coyotes looked at Jack and glared at him. Jack just kept laughing.

Tech got out of his son's arms and thumped Jack in the back of the head. "Ha, ha, very funny. For your information, we may be very close to finding the crown."

"After spending two months with Aunt Danni translating ancient hieroglyphics," Ryan added, "And do you know what we're gonna do with the crown when we find it?"

"You're gonna buy a pair of matching earrings," Jack suggested.

"Again, ha, ha," said Tech, "We will be named the two greatest archaeologists of all time and probably even make the cover of _Tomb Digest_."

"Wow," said Jack, "that magazine is read by tens of people."

It was about then that Louis' voice came through the bushes. "Legend has it that Princess Zaria—"

"—was the most ruthless leader of her time," came Kelly's voice.

"Hide!" Ryan said, "We're not supposed to be away from the group!" He pulled them behind the tree and into the bushes.

Kelly came up with Louis and the rest of the tour group. "She sent thousands of her subjects to their doom."

"True," said Louis, "But what you don't know is—"

"She also had a pet jaguar named Squeaky." Kelly skipped off.

Louis looked at Lexi. "Does she have an 'off' button?"

"Sadly, no," Lexi answered before leaving him alone with Nadine as the rest of the group continued on.

Nadine looked at Louis. "I can make her be quiet. Got another one of those big spider-whacking sticks?"

"Sadly, no," Louis answered before walking off, Nadine following.

The three boys came out of the bushes and brushed off all the leaves.

Jack groaned. "Man, I have to go to the bathroom."

"Not here!" Ryan scolded him, "I'm sure we're right above the antechamber. Why don't you go use the actual bathroom?"

"Well, I was going to," Jack said, "until I saw Dad trying to whack a giant spider with a stick. I left when the spider picked up the stick and started to whack Dad."

Ryan and Tech looked at him.

_With the tour group…_

The group came back to the dig site.

"And now we come back to the grave of Zaria," said Louis.

"Enough already!" Wendy cried, "When are we gonna get to the gift shop and day spa of Zaria?" Everyone looked at her.

_With Tech, Ryan, and Jack…_

Ryan was holding a dictionary as Tech examined the hieroglyphs. "If I'm translating this right, the antechamber can only be opened with the 'waters of mankind'."

Tech sighed and stood up. "What could that mean?"

"Guys!" Jack raced up. "I tinkled on that stone back there and a door opened up!" The two coyotes looked at him. He held up a crown. "Look what I found inside…"

"The Crown of Zaria!" Tech cried, snatching it.

"I can't believe we actually found it!" Ryan cried.

"What do you mean 'we'?" asked Jack, "It's because of my wee that I found it!" He took the crown back.

_With the tour group…_

Louis came to a big stone carving. "Ah…right behind this ancient carving, of the great deity Quetzalcoatl, is where we keep the controls to the sprinklers." Wendy and Lexi looked at each other and shrugged. "And now, we will climb up to the observatory at the top of the tomb of Zaria!" He pointed up at the top of the building, which appeared to be up another 1000 feet.

"Is there an escalator of Zaria?" asked Lucy.

While the rest of the group walked off, Kelly stayed behind and looked at the statue. "You know, Zaria—can I call you Zar?—everyone keeps saying you're this great, big, evil ruler, but you look like just a regular girl to me." She then got closer and examined the statue. "Then again, you're not the prettiest flower in the garden, are you?"

_With Tech, Ryan, and Jack…_

Jack was now wearing the crown and jumping around. "Check it out! I'm the king of the jungle!"

Ryan groaned. "More like the duke of the dimwits! Now would you take that off?"

Jack looked at him. "What? I can't hear you over all the humming!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Tech.

Jack took off the crown and examined it. "The crown. It's making some kind of weird noise. And it's vibrating."

"That's ridiculous," said Ryan.

"All I'm saying is," said Jack, "it tickles." He held the crown up to his stomach and started laughing. He pressed it against Tech and he started laughing and then pushed him off.

"What was that?" asked Tech.

_With Kelly…_

Kelly walked around the statue, looking around. "Dad? Ryan? Jack? Where are you guys?" She looked at the statue again…and saw it glowing. Her eyes widened as a green light flowed out of it and poured into her. Suddenly, she began to look at her hands. She touched her clothes and her ears…and began to smile evilly.

Wendy ran up. "Come on, Kelly, you don't wanna miss the hike up the mountain, unlike me."

Kelly glared at her. "Do not vex me, mortal, or I will rip your heart out!" she yelled in a deep, angry voice before walking away.

Wendy stared after her. "Well, it's nothing my last few ex-boyfriends didn't do to me." She walked off.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Brenda looked at Wendy. "She called you a mortal and you still didn't suspect something was up?"

"As much as she'd been on a sugar high the whole day?" Wendy answered, "No."

"What happened?" Brenda asked.

"Well…" Kelly said.

_Three months ago…_

Jack was sitting on a table on the main deck of the boat that was gonna take them back home. He was talking to a bunch of girls. "You know, the hardest part was figuring out the 'waters of mankind' riddle. But I just put the old coconut into overdrive and the answers seemed to just flow out of me." He and the girls started laughing.

Ryan came up with Tech and mock laughed. "You can say that again!" He pulled Jack off the table and away from the crowd. "I can't believe you're taking credit for our work!"

"Like father, like son," said Tech.

Ryan rolled his eyes and turned back to Jack. "We spent two months translating those hieroglyphs with Daniella. It's the whole reason we came here! Now we finally get our chance with this and you take it from us! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Jack looked at him for a few more seconds. "What do you call that thing that hangs in the back of your throat?" They both looked at him. "'Cause when you yell like that, it kind of flaps around!"

"Are you listening to anything he said?!" Tech cried. Jack just kept looking at them. "It's called a uvula!"

Before Jack could make another comeback, his phone rang. He pulled it out. "Hello?" He listened to what they had to say. "It's that science magazine you guys were talking about."

"_Tomb Digest_?" Ryan asked.

"Yes," said Jack, "This is Jack Duck, the famous archamolologist!" He looked at the two coyotes. "I need to take this." He walked off.

_In the girls' cabin…_

Wendy walked into the cabin to see Zaria alone in the cabin, going through her jewelry box. "Kelly! What are you doing going through my jewelry?"

"Silence, worm!" Zaria commanded.

Wendy noticed the weird, deepened voice. "Whoa, do you have a cold or something?"

Zaria sighed. "I am not interested in your poorly crafted trinkets!" She dropped the necklaces she was holding back into the box.

Wendy slammed the door shut. "'Poorly crafted'? You didn't seem to have a problem with that when you were first going out with Austin! Oh, wait, honeymoon phase."

Zaria glared at her. "I must have my crown! It was forged in the Fires of Mount Zoon, using the finest gold and precious jewels. Plus, I wore it to prom, so it has sentimental value." She started to leave the cabin.

"Wait, are talking about that thing that Jack found?"

Zaria turned back to face her. "Jack? Who be this Jack?"

Wendy looked at her. "Jack be my son and your cousin."

Zaria grabbed her arms and lifted her from the floor. "Where will I find him?!"

Wendy was scared. "I don't know! Try the juice bar!"

Zaria tossed her onto one of the beds. "You have been of help. I will spare your life." She walked off.

Wendy stared after her in fear and confusion.

_On the main deck…_

A reporter had showed up and was now on the boat. "This is Isabelle Core, coming to you live with Jack Duck, the young—"

"And handsome," Jack added, coming into the shot dressed like Indiana Jones.

Isabelle looked at him. "Whatever." She turned back to the camera and smiled. "—archaeologist who discovered the ancient Crown of Zaria." She turned back to Jack. "So, Jack, was this your first big discovery?"

"Actually, nay. Last year, I went on a search for the Emerald Monkey."

Ryan scoffed, sitting on the hot tub with Tech, Sophie, Sarah, Michael, and Austin. "That was a toy he dug out of the Marshmallow Crunches! And it should've been mine anyway! Because he got the stickers that came with the fruit rolls!"

"So," said Isabelle, "what was the hardest part of this search? The endless research? The painstaking digging?"

"I'd have to say…" Jack answered, "fighting off the giant scorpions. Luckily, I always carry my trusty whip!" He walked over to the juice bar, got out a whip, and used it—

"YOW!"

Jack pulled his whip back. "Heh…sorry, ma'am!" He turned back to the camera and sighed. "Wait. Before we go on, there is someone I need to acknowledge. I would never have made this heroic discovery without him."

Tech and Ryan looked up, hopefully, Ryan jumping off the hot tub.

Jack looked at them. "Ryan…move aside, let the smoothie guy through!'

Ryan stopped smiling and took a step back to reveal a guy with a tray of smoothies.

"This is the guy that sold me the giant drink that made me need to release the waters of mankind! Get over here, you big lug!" Jack pulled the smoothie guy up to a photographer. "And point!" The two posed for the picture.

"Tell me you didn't see that coming," said Sophie, looking at Tech and Ryan as they all got off the hot tub. The rest of the gang came up (except Wendy and Kelly).

Zaria then came up, dressed somewhat similar to a cavegirl.

Austin looked at her. "Hey, Kelly." He took a second look at her. "That's a new look." She looked at him as the others turned their attention to her, as well. "See you hit the Zaria gift shop, too."

Zaria scoffed. "It pleases me more than the rags I awoke in."

"Whoa," said Benny, "you got a cold or something? Your voice…"

Tech sighed and turned his attention back to Jack. "I can't believe Jack is taking credit for our discovery…well, I can believe it, I just didn't think he'd get this far."

"I'm with you, Dad," said Ryan, "I mean, he practically stole the Crown of Zaria!"

They now had Zaria's attention. She looked at them in disbelief, her eyes wide. "How dare he!"

"Exactly!" said Tech.

"He will die a thousand painful deaths!"

Ryan sighed. "Thank you for your support, sis, it means a lot."

"And after he has been sacrificed on the altar of Ixnay Fufu, the gods of the Underworld will drag his soul to the Pit of Despair!"

Ryan whistled. "I was just gonna write a strongly worded letter to _Tomb Digest_, but your way works, too."

Austin, however, was sensing there was something wrong with Kelly…

"So," Isabelle told Jack, "we were wondering if you would be willing to present the crown to us before you hand it over to the museum."

"No problem," said Jack. He turned around. "LOUIS!"

Louis came out, carrying the crown on a velvet pillow. It had been cleaned off and removed of the dirt, so it was now restored to its full glory, pure gold with dozens of fair jewels.

"That crown does not belong to you!" Zaria cried.

"Yeah, you tell him, Kelly!" Tech said.

"It belongs to me!"

"I—what?"

"Now you will feel my wrath!"

"Who are you?" asked Isabelle.

Zaria glared at her. "I am Princess Zaria." The rest of the group looked at her in shock, finally understanding what was going on. "I have awakened from my sleep of 1000 years to finally reclaim my crown!" She turned to Jack. "Give me the crown, peasant!"

"Uh, no way, finders keepers." Jack started to walk off.

Zaria stopped him. "Give it to me now! Or I will have your head on a stick!"

Jack looked at her. "You don't even have a stick!"

Zaria glared at him for a few more seconds and then ripped the arm rest off of a nearby chair.

"And she has a stick."

Zaria tightened her grip on the stick and started to chase him around the deck.

Jack ran off. He grabbed onto a waiter and held him in front of her. When she leaned left, he leaned left. When she leaned right, he leaned right. Finally, she grabbed the waiter and threw him into a table. "I need a bigger waiter!" He kept running.

Wendy raced up. "What'd I miss? How's Jack's 'big interview' going?"

"It started out well," said Daniella, "But now Kelly's trying to whack him with a pointy stick!"

"Ooh, fun!"

"Not fun, not fun!"

Zaria and Jack ran by.

Sophie chased after them. "Hey! No running with sharp objects!" She couldn't catch up to them and came back.

"Wait," said Austin, "that's it! You guys said that the legend said that Zaria swore to once again rise. Maybe when Jack unearthed the crown, it released her spirit and it jumped into Kelly!"

Louis dropped the pillow. "Wow. Who knew all that was true? I thought we just said that to suck in the tourists!"

Zaria and Jack ran by again.

Sophie scoffed. "That's ridiculous. Zaria wasn't a Witch or anything!" She stopped Zaria. "Kelly! You stop this minute, young lady, or I'll ground you for a week!"

Zaria pushed her into a table. "And I will cut off your limbs and feed them to my piranhas!" She ran after Jack again.

Sophie turned back to the others. "Well, I tried. Anyone else wanna take a shot?"

Everyone shook their heads. They all turned back to Jack and Zaria to see that Zaria had tied him up with his whip.

Zaria took the crown. "At last!" She put it on, savored the moment, and… "Does this crown make me look fat?"

Jack looked at her. "No, you look beautiful. Now would you untie me?!"

"NO! You stole my crown. I will take you back to the sacrificial altar, where you will be buried in an anthill and EATEN ALIVE!" She grabbed him and pulled him over the side of the ship.

"They went overboard!" Wendy cried.

_A half hour later…_

Zaria had buried Jack in the anthill at the altar.

"Kelly," Jack said, "Or Zaria. Or whoever you are! Look, I'd just like to point out that I look much better with my flesh on."

"Be quiet, peasant!" Zaria commanded, "Your voice is like a sword in my brain!"

"Yeesh, someone needs a hug."

The rest of the group came back.

"Oh, I hope Jack's OK," said Sarah, "Otherwise, we'll have to listen to Wendy complaining day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day—"

"Like we do now?" asked Lucy.

"Oh, good point."

"BACK!" Zaria yelled, "There will be no rescue!" She grabbed a giant rock and threw it at them. Fortunately, they were all able to jump back before the rock could hit anyone.

Tech then noticed some carvings on a stone. "OK, if I'm translating these hieroglyphs right, we have to put the crown on the statue to appease her. That or it's a recipe for fish tacos."

"We'll have to try it," said Michael.

"Wait, we're gonna cook?" asked Wendy, "I thought we were eating out tonight."

Michael glared at her. "Not the recipe, the crown!"

"Oh, right! Sorry!"

Tech rolled his eyes and raced up to Zaria. "Kelly—"

"I am Zaria," Zaria snapped, "princess of the Serpent People."

"No, you're not! You're Kelly Coyote, from downtown Acmetropolis. You love ice-skating, you have a boyfriend and family who love you, and you're ticklish behind your left ear!" To demonstrate, he tickled her left ear.

Kelly laughed. Zaria grabbed him by the arms and lifted him. "How dare you touch me, dog!" She threw him aside.

Tech got up. "She really doesn't wanna give that crown back!"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Austin yelled. He ran over to Zaria. "Kelly!" He turned her to face him. "Come on, if you're still in there…I miss you. Please, come back! Say something! It's me!"

Kelly looked at him. "Austin?"

Zaria turned around. "Quiet, slave!"

Kelly came out again. "No, you be quiet, you spoiled brat!" She lifted her hand, but Zaria grabbed it.

Zaria: Unhand me!

Kelly: Never! Give me the crown!

Zaria: NO! CEASE AT ONCE!

"Whoa, chick fight with only one chick!" Jack said.

Kelly, still fighting Zaria off, looked at Austin. "Austin, get the crown!"

Austin jumped on her and took the crown off.

Zaria pushed him away. "How dare you give away my crown!" She slapped Kelly.

Kelly looked back up with an angry look on her face. "Oh, don't you slap me!" She slapped herself. "OK, I just can't win here!"

Zaria turned back to Austin. "NO!"

Before she could do anything to stop him, Austin placed the crown on the statue.

The green light reemerged and went back into the statue.

Kelly looked at her boyfriend and smiled. "Austin…you saved me." Austin smiled back and the two lovers hugged.

Louis walked up to the statue. "The princess' spirit is once more safely entombed in the statue!"

"Yay!" said Sarah, "Let's celebrate! I'm in the mood for Chinese!"

Nadine walked over to Jack and pulled him out of the anthill with Austin's help.

Isabelle walked up to Jack. "So, Jack, where will your next big adventure take you?"

"Home. I'm through with archamolology! And you can tell your viewers, the living and the undead, that the only reason I found that stupid crown is because Tech and Ryan—" He grabbed the two coyotes. "These guys right here." He pushed them back. "—knew where to look, OK? They did all the work, I just found a rock! So haunt them!"

Ryan looked at his mallard cousin. "Thanks, Jack."

"No problem. Now I have to go, because I literally have ants in my pants!" Jack walked off.

Isabelle walked up to Ryan. "So, did you fight off any wild scorpions?"

Ryan laughed. "A couple. Walk with me." He walked off, the rest of the group following except for Tech, Kelly, and Austin.

"So I guess that means that it's my fault this whole mess happened," said Tech, "I'm sorry, Kelly."

"It's OK," said Kelly, "Austin saved me. Seems like he always does."

Austin scoffed. "Not always."

"Ghosts, Vampires, this, Tiara—"

"I get it! I guess I am saving you all the time."

"So I probably shouldn't be so on you all the time," said Tech.

"You said it, not me," said Austin, walking off.

Kelly smiled. "My guys. What would we do without them?" She walked, zapping herself back to normal as Tech followed.

_Now…_

"Wow," said Brenda, "So that's why Tech hasn't been so hard on Austin lately. He keeps saving his daughter."

"Tech's not the only one who's been uptight at Kelly at times," said Daniella. She looked at Sophie.

Sophie looked back. "What? I never got too upset at Kelly!"

"Oh, please!" Kelly said, "Remember the magic carpet?"

"Magic carpet?" asked Brenda.

"Well, it all started about seven months ago when we decided I needed my own room…"

_Seven months ago…_

Two weeks before the Armageddon incident, Tech, Ryan, and Michael were having to help Kelly and Sarah decorate Kelly's room. The guys had gotten fed up with having to share a room with two girls, even if the girls were their sisters.

Sarah walked in to check on them to see that they'd been spending past few hours smothering the walls with pink paint. "Wow…"

Tech walked up to her. "OK, we really need an honest opinion with this before we let it dry and start moving her stuff."

"Well, it…wow…it's pink." Tech just looked at her. "You've been doing this for three hours?"

"Well, some of us have," Tech said. He turned back to Ryan and Michael.

Michael held up his hands to reveal that his fingers were locked together. "Check it out! The paint dried my fingers together. Hiya!" He smacked a small pan with his locked hand and the pan stuck to it.

"That is so cool! Give it up!" Ryan high-five'd his brother…and clutched his hand in pain from hitting the pan.

Kelly walked in, carrying something. "Hey, guys." She looked around. "Hmm. Looks good so far, but you know what would be better?" She took the cloth off the thing she was carrying and unrolled the swatch. "Pink fur wallpaper!"

"Oh, great," said Ryan, "Watch Daddy's Little Princess make us give up another three hours just on the walls by putting up her new…wall…fur!"

"Uh…" Tech said.

"Yeah, I almost didn't get it," Kelly explained, "because the guy at the store said only a 'professional' could put it up, but then I realized 'he doesn't know my dad!'"

Tech took it and smiled at her. "Right. The Coyote boys are on it!" He walked over to his sons. "We're gonna need a lot of glue."

"I thought we were gonna do my room next!" said Ryan.

"I thought you said you were fine sharing with Michael," said Tech.

"Dad, have you seen the inside of his dresser or underneath his bed?" Tech looked at him. "Yeah, it's not pretty."

Kelly scoffed. "Well, I would help you, but I have work to do." She walked off to start looking for more stuff for her room (since she'd been sharing a room with three other people her whole life, she didn't have a lot of stuff to store in there completely).

"And I need to be working on mine," said Sarah before leaving, too.

"Yeah, we're never leaving that room," Michael told his brother.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Daddy's Little Princess, huh?" asked Austin.

"Yeah, I guess I was a little too into my parents—" Kelly answered.

"Are you kidding?!" Ryan cried, "You wriggled your way out of everything! And this was just one of those times! See, what happened was…"

_Seven months ago…_

Kelly walked back into the living room with a giant, rolled-up rug.

Lexi, sitting on the couch and reading a magazine, noticed this. She dropped her magazine on the coffee table and raced over there. "You didn't make a giant burrito out of Jack again, did you? 'Cause if you did, Wendy's gonna freak!"

Jack walked in. "I'm right here."

"Wouldn't have done it anyway," said Kelly, "It's no fun anymore now that he likes it. No, this is for my room."

"How did you get it?"

"I got it from the basement."

Lexi sighed. "You know you're not allowed down there."

"Dad said I could take whatever I want from down there."

"Oh. Wow. Well, he's your dad, so I guess he makes the big decisions. Yeah, if you see him, can you tell him I wanna talk to him?"

Kelly nodded and walked off.

Lexi went back to reading her magazine.

After Kelly was gone, Ryan and Michael came in…their clothes coated in pink fur.

Sophie came in and noticed this. She raced over there. "What happened to you guys?"

"What happened?" Michael asked, "Kelly got pink fur wallpaper for her bedroom and we just finished putting it up."

"Could you vacuum us off?" asked Ryan, "Be careful."

Sophie waved her hand. Both of them were clean.

"Or…"

Sophie sighed. "Look, Ryan. I know you want your own room, so go ahead and pick one out and…" She looked at Lexi and Michael and then whispered the rest: "…take whatever you want from the basement."

"Really?" Ryan whispered back.

"I heard that," said Lexi.

Sophie groaned. "Just this once?"

"Kelly's getting her share already! Isn't that enough?"

"Lex."

Lexi groaned. "Fine. Feel free to take Duck's baseball glove chair."

Ryan nodded and raced out.

Duck quacked in. "Baseball glove chair?! WHOO-HOO! I knew you didn't throw it out!" He ran off. "I can't wait to sit in it!"

Meanwhile, Kelly finished laying out the rug on her now fully furnished new bedroom. She looked around and smiled. "Perfect." She turned on the radio.

_"And now at number three, previously at number six, Spontaneous Bling with 'Aw, Yeah!'"_

Kelly shrugged. She picked a book off her shelf and turned her back to the shelf, starting to flip through the pages. After the first verse of the song, she closed the book and turned back to the shelf to find that she was no longer facing the third shelf, but the top of the bookcase! She looked down and saw that the rug was about three feet above the floor. "Flying carpet. Random."

Meanwhile, Duck dropped into his chair. "Ah, fits like a glove. Hey, it is!"

Lexi pulled him up. "I thought we agreed that was going in Ryan's room."

"But—"

"Guys!" Ryan said, racing in. He was holding stuff behind his back. "Seeing as I have now fully come of age, I decided to have a more mature room, so I was going to—" Suddenly, he dropped everything he was carrying. It was mainly a bunch of junk. "Heh, oops." He picked up a guitar. "I didn't realize I'd picked this up." He shrugged. "Oh, well. I don't know how to play it, but I guess I can smash it and hang it on the wall."

Lexi snatched it. "You're not smashing anything! That's mine!" She propped her foot on the chair and held up the guitar. "I used to play it in the high school band." She strummed a chord.

"I didn't know you played guitar," said Ryan.

"Yeah," Lexi said. She started to strum again, but Duck grabbed the strings on the neck.

"She doesn't," said Duck, having heard enough of her playing when they were first made the Loonatics, "But thanks for finding it."

Lexi sighed, putting her foot down. "Don't thank Rye, thank Tech. If he hadn't let Kelly into the basement to bring back up that rug, we never would've found it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute," said Sophie, "What rug?"

Suddenly, they heard a crash. They all raced to Kelly's room.

"Kelly?" Sophie looked around and relaxed when she saw that the room was empty. "Wow. For a second there, I thought she had the magic flying carpet."

"Whoa!" Kelly fell from the ceiling and landed on the floor. Everyone looked at her in shock. "Hey, so how's it going?" She looked at Lexi. "Aunt Lexi! I see you have a guitar out!" A piece of the ceiling fell on the floor not far from her feet. "Thinking about playing something now?"

Sophie walked up to her. "You know you're not allowed to use magic unsupervised! You should've come to one of us as soon as you found out that was a magic carpet!"

"When I found out, it was already in the air. I didn't know how to get it down. Besides, at least it wasn't giving people rides!"

Jack then fell from the ceiling. "That was cool! Let's go again!" Everyone looked at him. "Backing off." He walked over to his parents.

"That's it!" Lexi said, grabbing the carpet, "I'm taking this thing back to the basement!"

"And why don't you leave the guitar down there while you're at it?" asked Duck.

"Listen," Lexi said, "Your baseball glove chair stays above ground, so does my guitar!" She walked off.

Sophie looked at Kelly. "That's it. I'm officially disappointed in you."

"Well, the rug looks great in here. I mean, it ties the whole room together."

"I can't let you keep a magic flying carpet in here! You don't even know how to drive it!"

"Then you should teach me how!"

"No way!"

Ryan looked at the others. "I can't believe it. Someone actually said 'no' to Daddy's Little Girl and he's not fighting back."

"Maybe it's crazy day," said Jack. He tapped Wendy's shoulder. "Hey, Mom, can I have a Tap Phone?"

Wendy looked at him. "What? No!" She turned back to the group.

"It's not that day," said Michael.

"Mom, please!" Kelly begged.

"Absolutely not!" Sophie told her.

Kelly stared at her, sadly.

Tech groaned. "Don't think that just by glaring at us with those puppy dog eyes that we're just gonna melt in your hands."

"Is that what you think I do, Daddy? …OK…" She started to walk out.

Sophie grabbed her arm and turned her around. "No, no, no, no, no, no! You are not gonna guilt us into this. Just because Daniella taught Ryan as soon as we found out he was premature doesn't mean I automatically have to—uh oh."

Kelly looked at Ryan, who was cautiously looking away, and then slowly turned to glare at her mother. "Aunt Danni taught Ryan?" Sophie just looked at her. "Well, I guess it makes sense since he's your firstborn son and you probably love him more than me—"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," said Daniella, "We love you all equally!"

"Yeah, just not at the same time," said Wendy. They all glared at her.

Kelly turned back to Sophie. "Give me one good reason why I can't learn how to fly the carpet."

"Well, you're not old enough!"

"I already came of age! And how old is Ryan?"

"18," said Wendy.

Ryan turned her so that he could glare at her. "I'm like 10 minutes younger than her."

"Oh, so you lied to me, huh?"

Ryan just looked at her.

"Well, we'll just talk about that in the morning. Good night!"

"It's only 4:00!"

"Who are you, Father Time?" Wendy led the triplets out and the Loonatics promptly followed.

Kelly stopped her mother. "Look, I know you haven't given me a good reason why I can't drive the carpet, but I know you must have one because that's how much I respect you and love you."

Sophie looked at her. "Fine. We'll start the lessons tomorrow." She walked off.

Kelly smiled and walked back into her. "And that's how you do it," she smirked at her brothers.

_The next day…_

Daniella was messing with the carpet's engine on the rooftop while the others watched. "And if you don't vacuum it out every 3000 miles, the filter gets clogged, makes for a very unstable ride. Not safe." She closed the hatch.

Kelly was sitting on a chair nearby. "Oh, I get it—just take it to you every 3000 miles so you can do all that stuff."

"Well, it does relax me."

Wendy turned to Kelly. "Alright, pop quiz: what kind of clouds should you fly into?" Kelly started to answer, but she stopped her. "Trick question. None of them. Because it's very easy to become confused in a cloud. 'Which way's up? Which way's down? I don't know!' CRASH!"

"What could you crash into in a cloud?" asked Duck.

Wendy turned to him. "A confused Wizard on a carpet going the other way."

Duck blinked.

Wendy turned back to Kelly. "Plus, you don't wanna expose fine wool to that kind of moisture. It's very hard to dry and starts to smell like a camel."

"That bad?" asked Nadine.

"You don't wanna know."

Sophie pushed her sisters aside. "I'm the one giving the lesson here." She turned to her eldest daughter. "OK, it's very easy. Just curl right, lean left, go right; curl left, lean right, go left; curl down, go down. Got it?"

Kelly looked at her. "Curl what, lean who, go where?"

Sophie sighed. "Alright, enough talk. You don't learn by teaching, you learn by doing." She took out a life jacket and put it on her. "Let's take her up." She pulled the strings to inflate it and it smushed Kelly's face.

_10 minutes later…_

Kelly and Sophie were on the carpet, flying through the air. Both wore a helmet and life jacket.

Kelly looked to Sophie. "You know, this is actually nice. It's just the two of us—"

"What are you looking at me for? Eyes on the sky! Not me, the sky!"

Kelly quickly turned her attention back to the sky.

"Alright, turn left here."

Kelly did.

"Whoa! Too jerky! Too jerky! It's all in the wrists! I told you it's all in the wrists!"

"I'm barely touching it!"

"Look, you're thinking too much. Don't think! Just…fly."

"How can I think when you're yelling?!"

"I told you not to think! Don't think! If you're not gonna hear me, maybe I should yell louder!"

"I can't do _anything_ with you yelling at me like that! Why are yelling at me like that? You never yell at me like that!"

"I'm not yelling, I'm just loud teaching!" She then saw that they were about to crash into a building and pushed her to the side. "Watch it!"

"Watch where?! Watch where?!"

"'Watch where?' EVERYWHERE!"

"HOW CAN I WATCH EVERYWHERE?!"

They grabbed onto each other and screamed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"At least you didn't crash the carpet," said Sarah.

"Actually, I did, that happened later," said Kelly.

Sophie sat down next to her. "Perhaps now is a good time to tell you that I got us on a flight to Acme Europe and on a cruise back as my present to you."

"Seriously?!"

"Yup."

Kelly hugged her mom.

"I'd like to see what you got me," said Ryan.

Sophie smiled. She looked at Daniella. "Try and top that."

Daniella shook her head. "Back to a less happy time…"

_Seven months ago…_

Kelly and Sophie stormed into the living room. Sophie went to the couch and Kelly to the other hall.

"So how'd it go?" asked Wendy.

"I'm not talking to her," Kelly answered before storming off to her room.

"I'm not talking to her!" Sophie slammed a satellite dish on the coffee table. "And Duck and Slam aren't watching the big fight tonight."

"No, apparently, we are," Daniella said.

"She flew me right into this! SHE'S NOT READY FOR LESSONS!" She got up from the couch and went over to the fridge. "I don't know why she's so eager to get on that carpet. And where are the pudding cups?!" She slammed the door shut.

"Slam ate them all, remember?" Wendy said.

"I just don't get where she thinks she's going on that carpet," said Sophie.

"I don't know, but wherever it is, she's gonna come back," said Tech.

Sophie sighed, a hand on her hip.

"Are you sure you're not as upset about the carpet thing as you are about not wanting our little girl to grow up?"

"That's ridiculous. And until I eat something, I can't even think straight!" She started to walk off, then came back and grabbed three banana cookies and then the whole jar.

As she walked off, Sarah took out a notepad and a pencil. "'Make more pudding and cookies.'" She put down the pencil.

Ryan raced in with a stuffed boar head. "Hey, Dad! Check out what someone was throwing out!"

"Whoa!" Tech jumped back. "Wow! Yeah, it's hard to imagine someone not wanting that!" He looked at his son. "Why do you want that?!"

"It's gonna man up my room. I mean, how can you not notice this?" He held it up to Wendy.

Wendy gasped and backed away, plugging her nose. "It still has bad breath!" She left, the others following.

Ryan sat down on the couch and started brushing its teeth.

Kelly walked in. "Mom's not here, right?"

"What? Daddy's Little Girl doesn't wanna see Mommy?"

"Well…that's what I wanna talk to you about. While we were on our lesson, Mom got all tense and frustrated like how she acts around you and your dolls."

Ryan glared at her. "Action figures. Collectibles in their original packaging."

"It's just that…Mom hasn't acted that way with me before. What should I do?"

"Well, I'd love to help, but I've never been Mommy and Daddy's favorite anything. That's why I need Bruce here." He started to walk off.

"Wait! I need your help! How do I get Mom to stop being mad at me so she'll teach me how to fly?"

Ryan sighed and went to sit down next to her, putting Bruce down on the floor. "Alright, I'll help. We're gonna need to pull out the big guns here. What are some of Mom's favorite things?"

"Cookies, pudding…breakfast for dinner!"

"Exactly! And to top it all off, we can put out her favorite dessert…"

They looked at each other, smiling. "Brownies and fudge and ice cream buffet!"

"Yes!" Kelly said, "We can zap that up in no time! Come on!"

_An hour later…_

The gang was sitting down, eating.

Kelly looked at Sophie, who just sat there with her arms crossed, not saying anything. "Mom, Rye and I made breakfast for dinner. I know how it's your favorite."

Sophie looked at Ryan. "Thank you, Ryan."

Kelly sat down further. Then she sat back up. "Oh! And I made you your favorite blueberry pancakes and went all the way uptown to get that special chocolate chip syrup you like."

Sophie pushed away the plate. "No thanks. I'm trying to cut down on fruit."

"I feel the same way about vegetables," said Jack, "Who's with me?"

Michael raised his hand. He then saw everyone giving him looks and put it down.

Ryan looked at Sophie. "And Mom, guess what Kelly got you for dessert?"

Kelly looked at her. "Brownies, fudge, _and_ ice cream."

Tech looked at Sophie. "Oh, honey. You know how you love the dessert buffet."

Sophie glared at him. "Perhaps you didn't hear me. I'm trying to cut down on my fruit."

"So get it without cherries—"

"And chocolate!" She got up, taking her plate with her. "I'm finishing my 'breakfast for dinner' on the roof."

"I'll come with you!" Kelly said, getting up.

"Alone!" Sophie left.

Kelly took a few minutes. "Right! 'Cause…you don't want me to catch a cold. Thanks, Mom!" She looked at the others and sat back down, sadly.

Jack looked at Wendy. "I know things are all tense and everything, so I don't have to take a bath tonight, right?"

Wendy just glared at him.

He went back to eating.

_That night…_

Kelly lay asleep in her bed.

Ryan walked in. He walked up to the bed and turned on the lamp. "Kelly…Kelly. Kelly!"

"Oh!" Kelly kicked him.

Ryan grabbed himself where she'd hit him. "Oh! My tenders…"

"You scared me!"

Ryan shushed her.

"Oh, I get it! We're pulling a prank on Jack like he and I do to you sometimes."

"You two pull pranks on me?"

Kelly thought about that. "Never mind. What are you doing here?!"

"Our dinner plan didn't work out."

"I know. And thanks for waking me up to remind me. Good night!" She turned out the light and got back in the bed.

Ryan sighed and turned the light back on. "Look, flying lessons weren't that easy for me either."

Kelly sat up in bed. "Really?"

"And I'm guessing Mom's even tougher on Daddy's Little Princess."

"Well, Daddy's Little Princess just got kicked out of the castle. So what do you got?"

"I'm gonna teach you how to fly. That way, when you two go up again, you'll be ready."

Kelly smiled. "I like this plan. Let's do—wait! What's in it for you?"

"You're my sister. Why does there always have to be something in it for me?"

"Because I'm your sister. And I just kicked you in your 'tenders.'"

Ryan sighed. "Thanks for reminding me. OK, I guess if one day you wanna do something nice for me…that'd be cool."

"OK then. Good. Let's go." She got up and started to leave. Then she stopped. "Wait! I'm gonna do something nice for you right now. Don't use your toothpaste tomorrow morning."

"Why not?"

"It's not toothpaste." She left.

Ryan sighed one last time and followed her.

_A half hour later…_

Ryan and Kelly were on the carpet in the safety gear.

Kelly prepared to turn.

"Easy now!" Ryan instructed, calming her wrists.

"Wow, with you it's easy. Curl left, lean right, go left."

"Exactly. Now let's try a right turn."

Kelly followed the instructions.

Ryan looked at her. "That was good. Now your other right."

Kelly nodded and turned right. "I can totally do this."

"I knew you could. And now you'll be able to show Mom you can." Then they came up to a midair stoplight put up specifically for Witches and Warlocks on carpets or brooms. It turned red. "Whoa! Slow down."

Kelly stopped.

A bunch of birds flew by.

The light turned green again.

They started back up.

Kelly smiled. "That was so cool!"

"Yeah, just be thankful it wasn't a hot air balloon. They take forever. You'd think that after all these centuries, they would've upgraded those." He then saw sports lights. "Ooh, we're flying over the World Dome!"

"Oh, the basher-ball game's tonight." She then saw a foul ball headed for them. "It's coming at us!"

"I got it! I got it!" Ryan held out his hands. The ball zoomed at him, bounced off his helmet, and fell on the carpet.

Kelly looked at him. "Yeah, you got it." She went back to flying.

"Hey, you ready for something really hard?"

"What?"

"The loop-de-loop."

"Bring it!"

They went into a spiral in the sky, screaming with excitement as if they were on a roller coaster.

_15 minutes later…_

"That was so much fun!" Kelly said, "Thanks, Rye."

"No problem. Now when Mom takes you on your lesson, you'll already know what you're doing."

"OK, but if she starts yelling 'up is up' and 'down is down', I'm gonna say something!" He looked at her. "OK, but I'll still think it."

"Good."

"So how's your man room?"

Ryan scoffed. "I love it. It's so great. I sleep like a baby in there."

_An hour later…_

Ryan lay in bed, hiding under the covers. He peeked out and saw the boar head. "AH!" He pulled the covers over his head and started hugging his pillow.

_The next afternoon…_

Jack came into the living room while Wendy was sweeping. "Mom! Guess what Ryan gave me." He held up the boar head.

Wendy glared at Ryan.

"It's a little too babyish for me," Ryan tried to explain, "The Rye-man don't do stuffed animals."

Wendy scoffed, rolling her eyes. "That thing is going in the garbage. I'm sorry, honey, but it is terrible and cruel what they do to those animals! Plus, when I was in Ryan's room, that thing was checking me out."

Jack walked off to throw it away.

Ryan turned to Wendy. "Are Mom and Kelly back yet?"

"No, and it's been almost an hour." Wendy looked at the undisturbed door Jack had just walked through. "If they're not back in 10 minutes, I want you to go down to the basement, get that broom, and go looking for them."

Jack came back into the room. "There's a magic flying broom?!"

"No!" Wendy denied, "I…sweep when I'm nervous and I have a special broom for it." Jack looked at the broom she was holding. "That's not this one."

Sophie walked along the roof with Kelly, holding the rolled-up carpet. "I gotta say, Kelly, you did a lot better. I'm impressed."

"Thanks. I'm sorry about last time. I should've listened better."

Sophie sighed and stopped her. "It wasn't about listening at all. I couldn't have you for 10 years and now I'm losing you again because you're growing up. And I don't want you to. You're my little girl."

Kelly smiled. "I'll always be your little girl, Mom."

"No, you won't. You're going to move on to more grown-up responsibilities, like saving the world and this, and I'm gonna have to let you."

"Oh, I don't wanna be a grown-up. I just wanna fly. Of course, I wouldn't mind a credit card, too, so I can stop asking you guys for money."

"We'll talk later about why that doesn't make me feel better." She led her into the building. As soon as they were in the living room, she put the carpet on the couch.

"How'd it go?" asked Tech.

"She did great," said Sophie, "She really listened to me…I hate to say it, but I think she did better than Ryan."

"Yup, you did better than me," Ryan told Kelly, winking at her.

She looked at him. "Why are you winking at me?"

"You're ruining it."

"Well, if you did that well," said Daniella, "then in a few more lessons, you'll be ready to get your carpet license and fly all over the place."

Kelly smiled and walked off.

Tech went over to Ryan. "I don't know what you did, but nice work."

Ryan smiled at his dad. "I didn't do anything."

"Really? 'Cause I was watching the basher-ball game with Duck last night and there was a fly ball that went up and never came down. Wanna tell me something about that?"

Ryan smiled. "I—" He ran into the door. He laughed nervously, hit the button to open the door, and ran out.

Tech smirked.

_Now…_

"Wow," said Austin.

"So that's what happened," said Sophie.

"Don't we have an airport to be getting to?" Kelly raced out.

They all followed her.

"You know, I guess I kind of have to apologize for the whole yelling at you thing," Sophie said as she followed her daughter down the stairs.

"Don't worry, I'll just add it to my list of things I hate about this family being magic."

"She gets that from me," said Tech.

"Ignoring," said Wendy, "I do have to agree with Kelly a little about that one. I mean, stuff like that is what led to what happened two months after their last birthday."

"What happened?" asked Brenda.

"Well," said Kelly, stopping her walk down the stairs, "See, just after the portal to Anasala got opened, things started getting crazy in the magic world. Including this family."

_10 months ago…_

Wendy zapped up some sandwiches and put them in brown bags. She walked over to the stairs as the kids started loading down them. "Alright. Whole wheat. No crust. $5 in a bag."

Sophie walked over to Kelly. "You might wanna put on a jacket. It's very chilly outside."

"Fine. _Stop all the racket, I'll wear a jacket._" A jacket appeared over her top.

"Hey!" Daniella jumped in.

"He-ey," said Kelly, flaunting her jacket.

"No, not 'he-ey', I meant 'HEY!'" Daniella walked over to her. "When your mother said to put on a jacket, she meant 'go get one.' Not 'pop one on.'"

"What's the big deal? It's just a jacket!"

"The big deal is," said Lexi, "today, it's just a jacket. How long is it gonna be before you're popping a calculator into your math test?"

"First, it's cheating on math…" said Ace.

"Then-it's-cheating-on-everything…" said Rev.

"Then this happens, then that happens…" said Duck.

"Then you're in jail," Tech finished.

Kelly looked at them all. "'This happens and that happens'? I just didn't wanna walk upstairs!"

"Sghiahghi, take the elevator!" Slam said.

Kelly looked at him.

"I'm with Slam," said Tech, "Take the elevator upstairs, take that jacket off, then come back down and…put it back on."

Kelly handed him her sandwich bag. "Anything to keep my out of jail." She walked over to the elevator and called. "I'm supposed to be the one putting people in jail, not the one going to jail." She got into the elevator and went back up to the level her room was on.

Wendy then noticed Jack carrying a box. "What's with the shoebox?"

"It's my Mars diorama for school," Jack explained.

Wendy opened it. "Where's the Mars part? It's just a bunch of beach sand."

"Well…" Jack took out a cue card. "'It's a pretty barren planet.'"

Wendy sighed and rolled her eyes.

Sarah came up. "What's 'barren' mean?"

Jack thought about that. "Sandy?"

"We'll talk about this later," said Wendy, closing the shoebox back up, "You need to work harder on your assignments, young man."

"Come on," said Benny, "Let's get your homework to school before a cat finds it."

Kelly came back down. "See? Now I'm late. Could you at least write me a note?"

"Sure." Tech got out a notepad.

"'Dear Principal,'" Kelly told him to write, "'Kelly is late because her parents are meanies for not letting her use magic to zap a jacket on!'" Tech glared at her. "OK, I'll run to school!" She raced out. She then saw a brunette boy walk by. "Hey, there's DJ."

DJ tripped on something and fell over…landing on an invisible shield.

"Hey…"

DJ pulled himself up and his books flew into his hands. He walked forward and disappeared.

Kelly stared at him. "What—he—you—when—real—oh! Warlock!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The gang got ready to go into the airport while the sun was down (for Austin's sake; they also made sure to get one that avoided the sun).

"So what happened?" Brenda asked the gang.

"Well," said Robert, "if I remember correctly what Kelly told us…"

_10 months ago…_

DJ, holding a container of yogurt, walked through the halls of the school. Suddenly, a guy tripped him.

"Excuse you," snapped the guy. DJ glared at him. "Hey, guys, that kid's face reminded me. You wanna get some pizza?"

"I'll show you a pizza."

"What'd you say?"

"I said 'I'll show you a pizza.'"

"You're always doing that. It doesn't even make any sense."

"I'll show you what doesn't make sense."

"Dude, get a new insult book."

"I'll show you a new—"

The guy pushed the yogurt container enough to spill yogurt all over DJ's shirt. He laughed and walked off with his friends.

DJ went over to his locker while the halls clear out. He didn't see Kelly peering around the corner. He opened his locker and snapped his fingers and a clothes rack appeared, showing him all kinds of tops about the size for dolls. Finally, he picked one, took it off the rack, let the rack disappear back into the locker, and zapped it on. He closed his locker and prepared to walk off.

Kelly stopped him. "Hey. Nice shirt."

"I'll show you a—"

"Save it. So…your shirt appeared on your body as if by magic."

"Yeah! I'm a quick-change artist. I was thinking about doing it for the school talent show."

"You're a Warlock."

He looked at her. "You mean 'wizard.' Like with tools. Like the ones I used to build the clothes rack. Yeah, I'm kind of a wizard."

"No, a Warlock. As in potions and brooms and spells."

He scoffed. "Come on, a Warlock?"

"You're right. Crazy." She smacked his books out of his hands. "Sorry. I'm a klutz." She started to walk off.

DJ summoned his books back into his hands.

"Ha! I saw that!"

"OK! OK! …I'm a Warlock. Just…don't tell anybody!"

"It's OK. 'Cause, you know what? I'm a Witch."

"You are? Prove it!"

"Alright." She hid her hand behind her back. "How many fingers am I holding up behind my back?"

"How is this gonna prove anything?"

"Just guess."

"Four."

Kelly held up her… "None. It's my foot!"

"Ah! The 'feet-for-hands' spell. You've gotta show me how to do that."

"I can't. I'm barely allowed to use magic. I could get in trouble for just doing that."

"Well, that's lame. I mean, as long as no one finds out I'm a Warlock, my parents let me use magic whenever I want!"

"Oh, you're life is so much easier than mine! I mean, it is so hard being me." She held up her foot-hand and turned it back to normal before walking off with him.

_After school…_

Kelly and DJ walked down a street.

"You hungry?" asked DJ.

"Starved."

"I'll show you starved."

"OK, dude, you have got to stop doing that."

DJ smiled. He pointed at a hot dog stand while no one else was looking and two hot dogs started to prepare themselves. "Mustard or ketchup?"

"The works."

DJ prepared the hot dogs and pulled them over.

"Aren't you gonna pay for those?"

"Oh, right." DJ took a hand off his hotdog and snapped his fingers, making 10 bucks appear on the stand.

"Wow. I would've had to have walked all the way over there and asked the guy to make me a hot dog." She thought about that. "Actually, that's not a very big difference." She took her hot dog and walked off for the tower. When she got there, her hot dog was done. She threw away the wrapper and pulled her siblings, cousins, and friends off to the side where their parents (and Slam) couldn't hear. "So I met an interesting guy in school today—"

"For the last time!" Ryan snapped, "I will make my own friends! Thank you!" He started to walk off, but Kelly pulled him back.

"You're making it so hard to be excited about this! This guy is a Warlock, like us."

"Really? A kid from our school? We should totally invite him over—"

"See, this is how you're gonna ruin it. Just listen. It's DJ Baylor."

"DJ's a Warlock?" asked Lucy.

Kelly nodded.

"Then that magic he did at the school talent show was fake!" Ryan said. He thought about that. "I mean real…which is what made it fake." They all looked at him. "Oh, he needs to return that first place ribbon. I'm giving him a call." He started to walk off but Kelly pulled him back again.

"Forget about the stupid ribbon! Do you know his parents let him use magic whenever he wants? Just imagine how our lives would be!"

"I could read books in the dark!"

Robert glared at him. "Magic is a waste with you."

Ryan looked at him.

"Besides using magic for what electricity could do…" said Nadine, "…maybe we should ask your parents if they'd let you do that, too."

"Doesn't Kelly already do that?" asked Jack.

"Yeah, but I'm tired of getting in trouble for it," said Kelly.

Sarah sighed. "We're free to use magic however we want it on missions as long as no one who doesn't already know the Loonakids are magic starts to suspect something."

"Yeah, but sometimes we need it for the little things," said Michael.

"So maybe if we tell our parents about DJ, they'll loosen up on the rules," said Kelly. She started to walk off to find their parents.

"But I love the rules!" Ryan stopped her, "Remember that one summer when Dad said I could go to bed whenever I wanted? I was a mess!"

"Well, rules bore me," said Kelly, "They keep getting in the way sometimes. So I'm gonna go talk to Mom and Dad at the best possible time: while Dad's in the lab and Mom's using magic to help him. They're free for the magic anyway." She walked off. Luckily, her situation was going on at that exact moment.

Sophie considered this statement while the magic had a hold on her. "Magic whenever you want… No."

Kelly sighed. "Come on, guys! DJ Baylor's parents let him use magic whenever he wants!"

"Well, DJ's parents aren't your parents," said Tech, coming out from under his…thing, "Our house, our rules. Get your own house, you can make your own rules."

"Fine!" Kelly started to walk off.

Tech then realized how his words could be interpreted. "And that's not me giving you permission to conjure up your own house!"

Kelly looked at them. "Shoot." She walked out. Her parents followed her. They met the others in the living room.

"Hey, guys!" said Jack, going over some stuff for his Mars project, "Hey, Aunt Sophie, do Martians wear tin foil or hiker's equipment?" To illustrate his point, he put on a Martian mask.

Tech looked at his daughter. "And you want to add 'Free Willy' magic to this chaos?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Wendy.

Sophie walked over to her sisters and Lexi. "Girls, Kelly ran into another Warlock at her school today and now she's talking crazy talk! 'Oh! I wanna do magic whenever I feel like!'"

Kelly glared at her mother. "I don't talk like that!"

"There's a Warlock at your school?" asked Lexi, "You know, I'd love to meet the parents and compare notes."

_The next morning…_

The kids were walking through the halls with DJ.

Kelly was going over a plan with him. "So when you and your parents come over for dinner tonight, I need you to get them to convince our parents that everyday magic is OK rather than the other way around."

"Don't worry, I think I can get it through to them," said DJ.

"You don't know our parents," said Ryan, "They throw tantrums. And you'll know because either our mom, Aunt Danni, or Aunt Wendy will start saying this: 'What'd you get—how we got—ha! Kelly!'"

Kelly glared at him.

"Relax," said DJ, "My parents used to be the same way. Then when I got in trouble for it, they were gonna send me to military school and I decided I had to do something so I put a charm on them so that no matter what I do, they go along with it." Their eyes widened. "I mean, they're not even parents, they're more like my little robots."

"You charmed your parents?!" Ryan yelled as quietly as possible.

"You're starting to scare me, but I'm feeling a lot of respect," said Kelly, "Sometimes I wish I could do that."

"So it's set. I'll clear my parents' schedule and we can all go to your house tonight," said DJ.

"And you'll recognize it because it's the 150-floor tower," said Nadine.

DJ snapped his fingers. "There. They're free." He started to walk off.

"What—" Ryan stopped him. "Unless you can see the object you're manipulating, you can't do something like that without a spell!"

"Oh, see, spells are like training wheels and when you're really good you don't need them. And I get a lot of practice with this nonstop magic." He walked off.

Ryan threw his hands in the air.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sarah kept pounding the seat she was sitting in on the plane as they finished taking off. She finally stopped and groaned. "I can't do this! If I'm gonna be on the flight for over an hour, I need to sleep and I can't sleep on this thing!" She opened her bag. "Lucky I brought this." She pulled out…

"A deflated raft?" asked Wendy.

Daniella glared at her sister. "Wendy! They make very comfortable air mattresses in this dimension these days."

Sarah looked at her. "Yeah, they do, but this happens to be a raft."

Daniella looked at her.

"I didn't know if we were gonna be going to the beach or something."

"After last summer? No way."

Sarah nodded. She started blowing it up. "I am so excited…" Blow. "…to go to a different country…" Blow. "…to see all the castles and stuff…" Blow. "OK, I'm done with this." She handed it to Austin.

Austin took it. "Let me do it. It's not like I need the oxygen." He started blowing…and quit after three tries yielded nothing. He looked at the others and gave it to Daniella.

Daniella sighed, rolled her eyes, and zapped it so that it inflated itself.

"Thank you," said Sarah, taking it and setting it up, "See? Sometimes unnecessary magic is a good thing."

"Oh, trust me, it was necessary there," said Daniella, "Speaking of which…"

_Ten months ago…_

Wendy looked at Jack's latest project idea. "This is your Mars project?"

"Uh-huh."

Wendy showed him the photo. "That's not a Martian. That's you in a Martian mask!"

"How do you know that's me? That could be a real Martian and I just so happened to catch a photo of him conducting earth gravity experiments."

She glared at him. "On a roller coaster called 'Trip to Mars'?"

Jack smiled. "Yup."

Wendy groaned and handed him the photo.

Duck walked in wearing a red and blue T-shirt. "Check out what I found in a plastic bag upstairs: my old bowling shirt! I thought you threw this out."

Wendy glared at him. "Duck, when you find something in a plastic bag full of used floss and empty shampoo bottles, IT WAS THROWN OUT!"

Duck looked at his shirt and quacked off. Then he quacked back in an ordinary white top.

Wendy sighed. "Duck, I want you to put on something nice for them."

"Hey," Tech intervened, "it doesn't matter what we wear to tell them what they're doing wrong with their kid."

Just then, DJ appeared out of nowhere with his parents.

"Ding dong!" his dad said, jokingly.

They all looked at them.

"Oh," said Tech, "so the 'Free Willy' magic starts now."

"That's right!" Kelly said, joyfully, "Nobody had to walk all the way downstairs to get the door and take them all the way back up here. What's more courteous than magic? Nothing!"

Sophie sighed. "Ignoring…" She walked over to DJ's parents. "Hi, I'm Sophie. This is my husband, Tech, and my sisters, Daniella and Wendy, and their husbands, Rev and Duck, and our friends, Ace and Lexi and Slam."

"I'm Dale," said DJ's dad, "and this is my wife, Lori."

Lori held up a pan with a noodle casserole thing in it. "I brought this noodle kugel."

"Wow," said Wendy, taking it, "two of my favorite things: noodles and funny words."

"Although I am also a fan of the chocolate chip bobka," said Sophie.

The kids went over to DJ.

"DJ!" said Kelly, "We'd love to show you around!"

"No, I wouldn't!" said Ryan, "I'm staying here to watch your plan blow up."

Kelly rolled her eyes and led off DJ. "Oh no! It's really cold and you don't have a jacket! If only you could zap one up!"

"Don't be silly!" said Lori, "He's a Warlock! And I wouldn't want my little boy to be cold!"

"I can take care of this no problem!" DJ snapped his fingers and a furnace appeared in the middle of the room. "Mm. Toasty, wherever I go."

"Oh, look, Lex," said Ace, "There's a wood-burning stove in the middle of our living room. There's nothing strange about that."

The kids (DJ in the place of Ryan) started to walk off and the furnace followed them.

"Oh, look, it's moving!" Ace continued. He laughed, nervously. "Nothing strange!"

"Hey, not to close to the shelves in my room!" said Duck, "I need those books so I'll look like I don't watch too much TV!"

Wendy smiled at Dale and Lori and started sipping some of her drink.

Finally, the kids came to the foyer.

"And this is the lobby," said Kelly.

"I'll show you a lobby." Three guesses who said that.

Jack looked at Kelly. "You weren't kidding. He really does do that a lot."

"You should see my family's house," said DJ, "We have one door that, when you open it, is a black hole. Cool, right?"

"Wow, your life is so cool," said Lucy, "I just hope your parents can convince our parents that it's OK to use magic with no rules."

DJ sat down on a couch. "You won't have to worry about that." He held up his feet and a footstool flew over to him and landed under them.

"My parents can be a little strict, you know," said Sarah.

"Not after they eat the kugel, they won't be," said DJ.

"What does that have to do with our parents?" asked Robert.

"Oh, the charm!" said DJ, "The one I put on my parents? It's in the kugel! It's what gives it the cinnamon-y flavor."

"Wait," said Jack, "So when our parents eat the kugel, they're gonna be under the spell, too?"

DJ held up a hand. "You're welcome."

Jack gave him a high-five.

"This is so great!" said Kelly, "The only thing that could make it any better is if Ryan were here to hate it." She sat down on a chair by the couch DJ was on and put her feet on his footstool.

_Meanwhile…_

"Don't you think it's a little irresponsible to let DJ use magic whenever he wants?" asked Daniella. She ate a bite of the kugel. "Hmm! Cinnamon-y!"

"Yes, it is completely irresponsible!" agreed Dale.

"What?" asked Ryan, "I thought it was OK for DJ to use magic."

"It is absolutely OK for DJ to use magic!" Dale agreed.

Ryan looked at him, confused.

"That is so right!" said Lexi, sitting down next to Ace, "I like your parenting style, Baylor."

"WHAT?!" Ryan cried, "What—Dad! You hate magic without rules!"

"Relax!" said Wendy, "Have some kugel!"

"I'm allergic to cinnamon!" said Ryan, "It's why I get my own pie on Thanksgiving!"

"Oh, yeah, the bland pie."

Sophie nodded.

Kelly then walked in with the others. "Oh, so I see you enjoyed the kugel."

"Ooh, kugel!" said Jack.

"Jack!" Michael snapped, holding him back.

Ryan walked over to them. "I can't believe it! Your misguided plan actually worked! Mr. and Mrs. Baylor actually convinced our parents that we can have magic without rules!"

"And now you can read in the dark all you want," said Benny.

Ryan half-smiled. "I'm happy about that, but also a bit guilty, and somewhat suspicious, and a little bit hungry."

_The next morning…_

Kelly came into the foyer last, still in her pajamas. "Mom!" She stopped Sophie from going back upstairs. "I don't know what to wear."

"Well, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that instead of trying on a bunch of outfits and showing you, it'd just be easier to do this." She snapped her fingers and a catwalk appeared in the middle of the room. "Is that OK with you?"

"If it's OK with you, it's OK with me."

"Just making sure. Thank you, kugel."

"Oh, I loved that kugel."

"OK…" Kelly showed her the outfits. "So the skirt's cute on this one, but the shirt's too light. And the hat's cute on this one…"

"Well, I think that—"

"Ooh! That's the one! Thank you, Mom."

"You're welcome, I guess." She walked off.

Kelly walked over to the catwalk, looked at the outfit one more time, and snapped her fingers to put it on.

Duck then came down the stairs. "Ooh! A catwalk!" He went over to it.

Kelly looked away. "Well, this is awkward." She glanced at Duck making a fool of himself and zapped herself off to school. She smiled as she started to open her locker, then stopped. "Oh, nuts. I'm hungry. I forgot to eat breakfast." She looked around to make sure no one was watching, then opened her locker. "_Come-make-us pancake-us_." A plate of pancakes, with butter and syrup, appeared and she instantly started eating.

Ryan raced in. "Whew! Made it." He looked at Kelly. "Missed the bus."

"What?" Kelly zapped away the pancakes. "Why didn't you use magic to transport yourself over here? Have you even used any magic since the rules were lifted?"

"Yes!"

"Besides reading in the dark?"

"…then no." He walked over to his locker.

Kelly grabbed her books, closed her locker, and followed him. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

"No!"

"Prove it. Use magic right now."

Ryan opened his locker and waved his hand in her face.

She glared at him. "That isn't magic."

"How do you know I didn't forget my locker combination and then use magic to remember it?"

"Because you made up the locker combination song. _Right to clear it, come on, let's hear it, 23…_"

Ryan joined in. "_Left eight digits but don't fidget, 31, now for the last, don't go too fast, 6 and you're off to class. WHOO! _"

The others showed up.

"Ms. Winston didn't like my Aliens on a Roller Coaster project," Jack groaned, "She is so obsessed with this Mars thing! No one knows anything about it besides us, what right does she have to judge? If she loves Mars so much, why doesn't she marry it?!"

Kelly considered this. "Perfect! Ryan!" Ryan closed his locker. "I am going to show you a way to use magic freely in a way you'll understand: we're gonna help Jack with his Mars project. _Transportium_…"

"Oh no!" Ryan said as she grabbed everyone, "There is no way I'm going to the surface of—"

"…_nextorbitorium_."

They all were zapped off to…

"—MARS!" Ryan cried.

Jack looked it over. "It's all sand! My shoebox looked just like this!"

"This is dangerous, Kelly," said Ryan, "We shouldn't be here!"

"Hey!" said Michael, "Get a picture of me next to this rock."

"WOULD YOU STOP IT?!" Ryan cried.

"Ryan's right," said Nadine, hyperventilating, "This is dangerous. I'm already losing precious oxygen! I CAN'T BREATHE! I CAN'T BREATHE!"

"Nadine!" Sarah stopped her, "The spell is giving us air!"

Nadine nodded. "Right. I hate magic."

Robert then noticed something. "Oh, cool, a Mars rover!" He went over to it.

"Not cool!" said Benny, "Don't break it!"

Robert looked it over. "This doesn't look right." He fiddled with a wire and it started moving.

_At the space station…_

"It's back online!" a scientist cried.

Everyone applauded.

_Back on Mars…_

"Oh, these rocks will be great for my report!" Jack said before running off.

"Jack! Wait!" cried Lucy, "You can't upset the natural order of things!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Kelly.

"If we can't take rocks from Yosemite, I'm pretty certain we can't take them from Mars!"

"I'm with Lucy on this one," said Ryan, "I can hardly believe Mom and Dad would be OK will all this."

"Of course they're OK with it," said Sarah, "Just like DJ's parents are. That's what charming your parents means."

"Sarah!" Kelly snapped.

Sarah then realized she'd said that out loud in front of Ryan. "Oops."

"Mom and Dad are charmed?" asked Ryan.

Kelly looked at him. "And Aunt Wendy and Uncle Duck and Aunt Danni and Uncle Rev and Ace and Lexi and possibly Slam."

"WHAT?!" cried Ryan, "How?! When?! Who?!"

"Our parents," Kelly answered the last question.

"WHAT?! How?! When?"

"At dinner."

"WHAT?! How?!"

"It was in the kugel."

"WHAT?!"

"RYAN! I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT!"

Ryan growled. "We have to fix this."

"It's already fixed, we can't use magic whenever we want!"

"That's what I'm trying to fix!"

"That's not fixing anything!"

Ryan grabbed everyone. "_Transportium nextorbitorium!_" They all disappeared.

A Martian came out from behind the giant rock and spoke to its mother in a screeching language that only existed on that side of Mars: "I think I have enough pictures for my report on earth Witches."

His mother nodded. "I always hate when they wear those masks. That is so prejudiced." She led him off.

Jack came back. "Guys?! Guys! Hello? They ditched me. This is just like the mall. What was that spell again? _Come-make-us pancake-us_." A plate of buttered and syrup-ed pancakes appeared. "I remembered!" He dove for it.

Meanwhile, the others appeared in the living room of the tower.

"Mom!" Ryan raced over to Sophie. "You're charmed!"

Sophie smiled. "Yes, I am. Thank you, honey."

Ryan looked at her. "You don't mind?"

"Of course she doesn't mind!" Kelly said.

"I don't mind anything," said Lexi on the couch, reading a magazine, "Not even that there's a big piece of space junk in my living room."

The kids then noticed that they'd taken the rover with them.

Tech walked in. "Oh! Is that the solar-powered laptop I've always dreamt of?"

"No," said Ryan, "It's a Mars rover and guess what it's not doing: ROVING MARS!"

"Oh, the Mars rover," said Duck, "That'll be great for Jack's project." He went over to get something to eat.

The kids then remembered something. "JACK!"

"Oh no!" Kelly realized, "We've left Jack on Mars!"

"Oh, isn't that nice," Wendy sighed.

"No!" said Kelly, "We left Jack on Mars! I should be in big trouble right now and Aunt Danni should be fixing it!"

"What's to fix?" asked Daniella, "Just used the spell you used to go to Mars to get him back."

"You mean you don't even care that we just left our cousin on Mars?!"

"We're just happy you're all having fun with magic."

"This isn't about that! It's about you not caring! And on top of this, I'm disrupting a million-dollar space program."

"Billion-dollar," Ryan corrected.

Kelly looked at him. "'Billion-dollar'?!" She turned back to her parents. "Billion-dollar space program! And I'm scared!"

"Scared is good," said Tech.

"No, it's not! It's dangerous!"

"Dangerous is good."

"No, it's not! That's why we have rules, so we don't do anything that's scary or dangerous!"

"Are you saying that you want rules?" asked Sophie.

"Yes! I want rules! And more importantly, I want my parents back! Snap out of it, you're under a spell!"

"Oh, isn't that nice," said Lexi. She looked at Ace. "She put a spell on us." She laughed.

Kelly grabbed a pillow, stuffed her face into it, and screamed at the top of her lungs, piercing Lexi's ears.

Ryan grabbed her. "OK, you take the rover back to Mars and get Jack back. I'll figure out a way to fix the spell on our parents. To the thinking chamber! Ba-ba-ba-bon-bom!"

"You mean your bedroom," said Sarah.

"Do you want me to help or not?"

"Sorry! To your thinking chamber, ba—whatever you did. OK, go!"

They all ran off in different directions, except for Kelly.

Kelly walked over to the rover. "_Transportium nextorbitorium!_" She and the rover disappeared.

_An hour later…_

Sarah handed out some brownies. "You guys like the brownies?"

Daniella sighed. "Delicious. Is there anymore kugel left?"

"NO!" all the kids yelled.

Kelly and Jack reappeared.

"Wow, it feels good to be home," said Jack.

"You were there a long time," said Kelly, "You probably have to go to the bathroom."

"…no."

Kelly winced and walked away.

"He did that in Yosemite, too," said Ryan.

Kelly then noticed what they were doing. "Brownies? This is what your 'thinking chamber' came up with?"

"I did a little research. Turns out the cocoa powder in the brownies overpowers the cinnamon in the kugel and undoes the spell."

"That's ridiculous."

Lexi looked at where Kelly and Jack had been standing. "What—Why is there red dust all over the living room?"

Daniella looked at it. "It's dirt from Mars! Kelly!"

"Maybe it's not so ridiculous," said Kelly.

"Not to mention she left me on Mars!" Jack added.

Wendy looked at him, wide-eyed.

Kelly walked over to them. "He's right. It's all my fault."

"You are in so much trouble, young lady," said Tech.

Kelly smiled and hugged him. "I know."

Tech looked at Sophie.

Sophie shrugged.

Tech put a hand on Kelly's back.

_Now…_

"That really happened?" asked Brenda as Sarah got up from the raft.

Sarah yawned. "Yup." She got up. "Flight's almost over." She got back in her seat and buckled up.

"Wait, what about DJ and his parents?" asked Austin.

"Oh, right!" said Nadine, "Almost forgot…"

_Ten months ago…_

Ace handed a plate of brownies to Dale and Lori. "Here you go. Sarah was happy to make them for you."

"DJ says eating brownies is against the law," said Lori.

Ace and Lexi looked at each other.

Lexi scoffed and smiled. "That law was overturned yesterday! Don't you read the papers?"

"Oh!" Dale took one and ate it, as did Lori.

"Yeah," Lexi said, tossing the newspaper to the other side of the room.

"Mm, delightful," sighed Lori.

"Mm-mm-mm! Delicious!" Dale commented.

"Where is DJ?" asked Benny.

"He's busy riding up the side of the Empire State Building on a skateboard," said Lori. Then she and Dale looked at each other.

Dale zapped DJ up.

"Whew! I made it! I made it all the way to the…" DJ looked and saw his parents sitting on the couch with Daniella. "Brownies!"

Lori stood up. "You're in trouble, young man."

DJ looked at her. "I'll show you trouble!"

Dale stood up. "That was never funny."

DJ looked at everyone and then raced out the door.

_Now…_

Brenda giggled. "Oh! The flight's over!"

They all got up and left.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The gang walked into a castle and looked around.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Sarah awed, "I mean, Anasala Castle was considerably cooler, but this is pretty fantastic."

"I know, it's great," said Ryan, looking at a rolled up parchment.

Brenda looked at this. "Ryan, why are you carrying around that toilet paper?"

"It's not toilet paper, it's the royal scroll of Acme Koura. I purchased a copy of it in _Ye Old Gift Shoppe_."

"Then why is it perforated every five inches?"

Ryan processed this, noticing that she was right. "I wondered why it was two-ply." He turned to her, rolling the scroll back up a little. "But it's still packed full of information. Like this: when meeting a member of the royal family, one must stand one foot, lean forward, spread their arms, and coo." He demonstrated. "Coo. Coo."

"Yeah, cuckoo," said Jack.

Ryan glared at him. "It's in the scroll."

Just then, a guy came up and loudly blew a trumpet. "Hear ye, hear ye. I bring a message from the prince of Acme Koura."

"Who are you?" asked Lucy.

"I am the prince's herald, Harold."

They all started laughing.

"Harold the herald!" Wendy laughed.

"Yes, yes, I'm a herald named Harold. My brother Taylor is a tailor. Oh, it's so funny. Anyway, I came to say that the prince has spotted you from his tower and was taken with your beauty." All the girls looked at him. He gestured to Kelly. "Her."

Kelly stared at him, openmouthed. She smiled. "Me? The prince thinks I look beautiful?"

"Yes, and he has requested you be his guest for tonight's royal reception."

"Yes! Absolutely, positively, a thousand times, yes!"

"Whoa!" Austin stopped her, "You're with me and you've haven't even met the guy."

"Hello? He's a prince! I'll be there if he's in frog form."

"Splendid, I shall inform the prince of your decision. Oh, and you can bring your…friends."

Kelly smiled. "What friends?" They all glared at her. She looked at them. "Sorry. Prince on the brain."

_That night…_

The gang came into the castle, except for Kelly and Nadine.

"Hear me, hear me!" Duck called, "Danger Duck has arrived!" He looked at Harold. "Honk your horn, Harry!"

Harold held up the trumpet and blew a note in his ear.

Duck stepped back.

Sarah stopped Austin from walking away. "Why are you carrying a rose?"

"What rose?"

Sarah reached into his coat and pulled out a radiant red rose.

"Oh, that rose."

"You're trying to hit on Kelly, aren't you?"

"I'm her boyfriend. It's kind of my job." He took the rose back. "I'm just concerned that the prince might not be the right guy for her and I want to show her that if it doesn't work out that she still has me."

Sarah smiled. "Don't worry. If you're that concerned for her, I know you're the right guy for her."

Harold then blew his trumpet, getting everyone's attention. "Hear ye, hear ye, I present to you the prince's date for the evening, lady Kelly Coyote."

Kelly walked in wearing a wonderful pink gown. "Hiya."

Nadine smiled as she walked in after her, adjusting the dress. "I told you you'd look beautiful. Good luck out there."

"Thanks, Nadine. You're a great friend." She hugged her.

Nadine smiled and hugged back.

Austin walked over after Nadine was gone. "Kelly—"

Harold came in and handed her a bouquet of roses. "Compliments of the prince!"

Austin sighed and tossed his rose. "You're beautiful. The prince is a lucky guy."

Kelly smiled. "Oh, Austin—" The trumpets sounded. "The prince is coming! Out of my way!" She pushed him aside.

"Hear ye! Hear ye!" Harold called out to the audience, "It is with great honor that I present…"

"Coo, coo," Ryan said, standing on one foot with his arms spread.

"Would you stop—" Wendy said, pushing him back into a few people, "Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to…" She turned back to Harold.

Harold sighed. "…vanquisher of enemies, defender of men, drinker of lion's blood…"

Austin crossed his arms and scoffed inwardly. _I did all that stuff._

"…his royal highness, Prince Jeffrey!" He moved aside and in walked a boy who's age was obviously in the single digits, carrying a scepter and wearing a crown.

Kelly looked around, waiting for the prince to come.

The others started giggling.

The boy looked at Kelly. "Hello, sweet cheeks."

Kelly realized that the boy was the prince. "Ooh…"

Daniella walked over to her. "You're supposed to curtsy."

"Yeah," said Jack, "That way, you can look your date in the eye!" He and the others started giggling.

Kelly glared at them all and handed Daniella the bouquet.

"So," said Jeffrey, "ready to get freaky on the dance floor?"

"Uh…" Kelly hesitated.

"I'll teach you the Acme Koura Stomp. It's very similar to the Pee-Pee Dance." He pulled her over to the dance floor as the music started. He started bobbing his legs up and down. When he was done with that, he started hopping back and forth, waving his arms up and down.

Kelly tried to mimic these actions.

Jeffrey started the Egyptian dance.

"Oh, I'm not doing that one."

Jeffrey waved his hands at her as if telling her to come on.

Kelly groaned and started dancing with him.

"Poor Kelly," said Jack, "How incredibly humiliating for her." He pulled out a camera and started recording it.

Sophie knocked down the camera. "This was supposed to be her Cinderella moment. Instead it's like Snow White with one Dwarf."

"Yeah, Shorty," said Tech. They all started laughing, even Austin.

_10 minutes later…_

Kelly was done dancing with the prince. She walked over to Austin. "Well, this was awful."

"Now you get why I didn't think it was such a good idea to go out with a guy you haven't met."

"Good point. I should've listened to you."

"Well…yeah."

Kelly smiled. "I guess the idea of a prince for me was just so overwhelming because of me being a princess and all."

"You're a princess?"

"In Anasala."

"Oh, right."

"Of course, there was no way it was gonna work out anyway. There's no way he'd be able to put up with the whole Ghost Whisperer, superhero, half-Vampire Witch thing."

Austin looked at her. "Wanna dance with someone who does?"

Kelly smiled.

They got closer.

"Hey!" Jeffrey jumped in. "Hands off the royal babe!"

Kelly sighed.

Jeffrey looked at her. "Kelly, this night has been the greatest of my life. And to commemorate it…" He brought forth one of his servants who carried a covered pillow. He took off the pillow to reveal…

"Wow." Kelly took it. "A bouncy ball." She bounced it off the floor. "You know, usually, you have to buy a piece of gum to get a gift this great."

Harold walked up. "Your highness, the queen has just informed me that it is past your bedtime."

"I don't wanna go to bed!" Jeffrey snapped.

"Well, maybe, if you go now, your date will read you a bedtime story!"

The others have to struggle not to laugh at that.

"OK!" Jeffrey jumped into Kelly's arms.

Kelly summoned all her half-Vampire strength to pick him up as she walked away. "You know, whenever I pictured this night, I always assumed the prince would be carrying me off."

_The next morning…_

Kelly was drinking a smoothie on the sky deck of the ship heading home.

"So how'd the rest of your evening go with Shrimp Charming?" asked Wendy, sitting on her chaise. She instantly started giggling.

"Like any other fairy tale ending…I helped him with his long division and then he napped happily ever after."

Wendy started laughing and pounding the armrest on her seat.

"Don't worry, Kelly," said Sophie, "Your prince is still out there somewhere."

"'Somewhere' could be closer than you think," Austin said, coming up to them.

Kelly smiled. Then she noticed something. "Wait, what are you doing on the sky deck in broad daylight?" Austin pointed at the sky. Kelly looked. "Er…broad cloud-light."

Austin smiled.

Kelly smiled back. "Well, I guess you're right about the whole prince thing…" She got up to kiss him—

Harold got between them and blew his trumpet loudly, getting the attention of everyone on the deck.

"Do you have to blow that thing every time you make an announcement?!" Austin asked.

"Yes, best part of the job." Harold turned to Kelly. "I bring a message to you from Prince Jeffrey."

Kelly rolled her eyes and went back to drinking her smoothie.

"He demands your hand in marriage."

Kelly spit out her smoothie. "'MARRIAGE'?! I have three good reasons to say 'no' to that: I'm too young, I have a boyfriend, and he's only 8!"

"And ¾!"

Kelly groaned. "I refuse to marry him!" She started to walk off.

Harold followed her, along with the rest of Kelly family (and Austin and Brenda) while half the crowd watched these events all go down. "You should've thought about that before you accepted the Royal Sphere of Eternal Commitment."

Kelly stopped walking and glared at him. "I never accepted any special sphere."

"Yes, you did! The rubber bouncy ball. By accepting it, you are now betrothed to him."

"I don't want that stupid ball. He can have it back."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. He officially declared 'tap, tap, no give back.'"

"Ooh…" the whole audience groaned.

"That's serious," said Brenda.

Kelly glared at her.

Ryan looked over the "toilet paper." "There's nothing about a sphere in this scroll."

Harold sighed. "It is clearly stated in Section 3, Subsection 1."

Ryan checked. "I don't see it."

"Ooh," said Jack, "yeah, I may have used that subsection to wipe my subsection."

Ryan instantly dropped the scroll.

"Don't worry, Kelly," said Tech, "He can't force you to marry him. It's not like he can stop the ship from leaving."

_BOOM!_

"INCOMING!" Wendy cried.

"HIT THE DECK!" Ace commanded, getting down on the floor and out of the way of the cannonball, as did everyone else.

_SPLASH!_

"Looks like someone used his tooth fairy money to buy a cannon," said Robert.

Kelly just looked at them all in nervous fear.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kelly was lying on her bed, sadly staring at nothing as the girls in the gang surrounded her. "I can't believe I'm being forced to marry a prince at gunpoint." Sophie started trying to calm her down.

"More like cannon-point," said Wendy.

Sophie glared at her sister.

"Look on the bright side: we can organize you a fantastic bachelorette party," said Nadine, "Do you prefer guitars or piano?"

"Oh, go for guitars!" Lucy cried.

"I'M NOT GETTING MARRIED HERE, PEOPLE!" Kelly cried, getting everyone to back off.

Tech walked in with the guys. "You might not have to. Ryan, read the toilet paper."

Ryan glared at his father. "'Any other suitor, even a worthless peasant…'"

"That would be me," said Austin.

"'…can challenge the prince to a duel for his beloved. The woman goes to the winner.'"

Kelly scoffed and got up. "'The woman goes to the winner'? That is so sexist! I am not some prize to be won or lost."

"Your only other option is to marry the royal runt," said Austin.

Kelly thought about that. "I'm down with the duel."

_That night…_

Everyone was in the castle foyer, sitting down as observers.

"Come on, people!" Jeffrey cried from his throne, "Let's get this over with! We have to be done by 7:00! I can_not_ miss an episode of _Stinky and the Bean_!"

Tech came in with Kelly, who was wearing a magnificent gown of pure white with flowers embroidered into the hem, neckline, and sleeves.

Kelly put on her veil, carrying the traditional bouquet in her other hand. "Did you contact the embassy?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, they have no jurisdiction here. However, they are sending you a salad spinner."

"That's not gonna help. My 'future husband' won't touch anything green." She then looked at Jeffrey. "Besides his boogers." Jeffrey was picking his nose. Kelly shuddered, disgusted.

"Don't worry, honey, Austin will save the day. And now parts of me do not believe I said that."

Kelly threw him into his chair next to Sophie, who was dressed in a simple yet elegant blue dress. She walked up to the altar.

"Royal subjects," Harold called out to the audience, "visiting dignitaries…" He looked at the gang. "…others…" They all exchanged looks. "…we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of his royal highness, Prince Jeffrey, and…" He looked at a cue card. "…lady Kelly Kristy Kari Diamond Johanna Charity Beta Atlanta Arizona Coyote."

The gang looked at Tech and Sophie.

"We couldn't think of a good name!" Sophie defended herself and her husband.

"Boy, her driver's license must be huge," Wendy whispered to the others.

Brenda looked at Ryan, Sarah, and Michael. "I'd like to hear you guys' full names."

Harold went back to the ceremony. "Now, if there is anyone who objects to this marriage…" Kelly held up her hand. "Besides you." Kelly put it down, disappointed. "…speak now or forever hold your peace."

Austin stood up. "I object!" The audience gasped. "I challenge you to a duel for the maiden's heart…and the rest of her."

"I don't wanna duel!" Jeffrey whined.

Ryan stood up. "Uh, you have to." He held up his scroll. "It's in the toilet paper." Everyone looked at him.

_20 minutes later…_

Austin and Jeffrey faced off.

"Since he was challenged," said Harold, "Prince Jeffrey shall select the method of duel."

"Pick your poison, puny prince," said Jack, standing on the sidelines, "We're taking your woman and your lunch money!"

Jeffrey glared at him then turned back to Austin. "I choose the joust."

Austin went over to the others. "That's not fair! I haven't ridden a horse in 100 years!"

"Whereas the prince probably has years of equestrian training," Daniella added.

"Wee!" Jeffrey went by, bouncing up and down on a rubber exercise ball decorated to look like a horse.

"Yeah, on a bouncy ball," said Duck.

"Your steed," said Harold, handing Austin a ball just like it.

"I am not getting on this thing—"

"You're getting on it!" Tech snapped.

Austin obeyed.

"And here are your weapons," said Harold, handing them… "Poodle Noodles."

Austin groaned. "I'm gonna regret this."

Kelly walked by in her dress, holding up a sign that said "Round 1." "I can't believe I have to do this."

Harold blew a whistle to start the round.

Austin and Jeffrey went at each other…and Jeffrey beat Austin in the side with his foam bat and pushed him off the ball in doing so.

Harold blew the whistle again. "Point Jeffrey."

Austin glared at Jeffrey. "Oh, you did not just—"

Kelly intervened. "Knock you off a rubber bouncy exercise ball with a Styrofoam noodle? I think he did!"

Tech looked at her. "Don't worry, Kelly, I'm sure things will work out somehow."

"Really? 'Cause, you know, I'd hate to have to give the Anasalans word that their princess is out of order because she's spending the rest of her life RAISING HER HUSBAND!"

Austin got back on. "Alright, that's it, you little pint-sized punk. It ends here!"

Kelly walked over with the "Round 2" sign. "Oh, it'd better!" She walked back over to her family.

Austin and Jeffrey went at it again…only to have Jeffrey poke Austin in the stomach so hard that he fell back.

"Point Jeffrey!" Harold cried.

The gang went over to help up Austin.

"Austin, what's wrong?" asked Daniella, "You're usually good at fighting."

"One more round and we'll be tying the 'Just Married' sign to the back of Jeffrey's tricycle!" Lexi pointed out.

"OK, new plan," said Kelly, "RUN!" They all ran for it…running right into two guards with axes. "New-new plan. Austin, win."

Austin groaned. "Kelly, I can't—"

"Austin!" She grabbed him. "I believe in you!" She kissed him, hugging him at the same time. Finally, she let go, smiling as widely as possible. "Now go get him, tiger."

Austin immediately dove for the ball and grabbed the noodle, ready for the fight.

Harold blew the whistle.

Austin and Jeffrey bounced around a few times, tauntingly.

"Yeah!" Wendy cried, "Give him a noodle to the noodle!"

Austin jumped off the ball and knocked over Jeffrey, beating him every few seconds with his noodle.

Harold leaned in to the others. "I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do that to the little twit."

Austin kept pounding on Jeffrey.

"Oh, right. Point challenger!"

Austin got up as the gang cheered. He raced over to Kelly. "Alright, I may need another kiss for round four."

Kelly smiled.

"Forget it!" Jeffrey cried, "I surrender!" He ran off. "Mommy!"

Austin grabbed his ball. "What say you we ride my trusty steed into the sunset?"

"I'd be honored." Kelly got onto the ball with him.

"Excuse me," Harold said, stopping them, "but Prince Jeffrey's brother, Prince Tommy, has seen your picture and wishes to invite you on a date."

Kelly groaned. "No way! Giddy-up, horsy!"

Austin bounced her off.

A handsome young man came into the room.

"I'm sorry, your highness," said Harold, "She just wasn't interested."

"I am!" Sarah cried. She ran over to him. "Hello, Prince Dreamy!"

Benny grabbed her and pulled her off with the others.

They got back onto the boat.

"Well, that was the most humiliating experience of my life," said Kelly.

"Alright, that's a lie," said Ryan, "Remember the pocket elf incident?"

"Oh, yeah."

"'Pocket elf incident'?" asked Austin.

"Yeah, about three years ago, about the time we started our magic lessons—regardless of having not received our full power yet—and I started liking boys, I kind of got myself into a little bit of trouble…"

_Three years ago…_

"Check it out!" Kelly raced over to her sister and Nadine and Lucy, "I got an F on my Spanish midterm!"

"Why are you so excited about that?" asked Nadine.

"Because Pierce got an F on his test, too. That means he's been paying as much attention to me as I've been to him." She sighed. "Failing Spanish is hard work."

"How is failing Spanish hard work?" asked Lucy.

"Everyday I show up late so he'll definitely notice me, then I 'forget' my pencil and textbook so we have to share one, and finally, I let the teacher catch us passing notes so she keeps us both after class."

"Wow," said Sarah, "that is hard work. You must be exhausted."

"That's why I sleep during history."

"Unlike all our brothers and Jack and Robert who all sleep through health," added Lucy.

"Exactly." Kelly then saw a pretty good-looking terrier coming down the hall. "Here comes Pierce."

Pierce walked up to them. "Hey, girls. So Kelly, a bunch of us are going to this cool restaurant, Medium Rare, on Friday. You wanna come?"

"Oh, sure, Medium Rare, I go there all the time," Kelly said, playing it cool.

"But it's new, Friday's opening night."

"Oh! Medium _Rare_, I thought you said Medium _Roar_. It's down by the zoo."

Pierce looked at Nadine, Lucy, and Sarah. "You three can come, too."

"Well, we might as well," said Lucy, "since our best friend never took us to Medium Roar."

Kelly glared at her.

"Cool, see you then." Pierce walked off.

The girls looked at one another, happily.

Ryan came by. "What are you so excited about?"

"Kelly failed her Spanish midterm!" Sarah answered, excitedly.

"Sarah!" Kelly snapped.

Sarah looked at her. "I thought you were happy about it."

"Not to him, I'm not!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"How many guys did you date before I met you?!" Austin cried to Kelly.

"I got this one," said Sarah. Then she started doing the math. "How old are you?"

Kelly groaned and turned to Austin. "Why are you so concerned about this?"

"I'm just worried a little bit that I might not fit your standards."

Ryan stifled a giggle. They all looked at him. "'Might not fit her standards.' Why don't we take a little pop quiz and see? One and only question: are you breathing?"

Kelly glared at him.

Austin just looked at him. "No."

Ryan realized that. "Oh…"

"Back to the story," Kelly said, still glaring at him.

_Three years ago…_

Kelly raced into the living room to meet everyone else. "Hey! Guess who got asked out on a date today! Me or Ryan?"

Jack scoffed, playing a video game. "Not Ryan."

Ryan glared at him before going back to his homework with Benny, Robert, and Michael.

"I'm more interested in hearing about what happened in Spanish class," said Sophie.

"Yeah, we heard you failed," said Tech.

Kelly looked at Ryan, then back at her parents. "That's right! And I will tell you why. There I was, studying as hard as I could. But I couldn't concentrate because right outside that window…" She pointed at the window-door leading to the roof. "…the boys were playing paintball." The boys instantly dropped what they were doing. "And I didn't wanna ruin their fun."

"You guys were playing paintball on the roof?" asked Ace, "We told you guys not to do that because it damages the scaffolding!"

"Oh!" Kelly said, "Now that you mention it, I do remember you saying something about that."

"No, no, no!" Jack jumped up from the couch as the other boys walked over for backup. "We didn't play any paintball!"

Lexi opened the curtains to reveal that the whole of the window-door was splattered with paint in colors of yellow, orange, red, green, and purple. She looked back at the boys.

Benny laughed, nervously. "What are pigeons eating nowadays?"

"I got this one." Daniella walked in front of Lexi. "You boys are gonna scrub that roof without your powers until it sparkles!"

"Shiny roof coming up!" Jack raced off, followed by the other boys.

Sophie sighed and turned back to Kelly. "You know what? Your failing Spanish is all my fault!"

Kelly looked at her. "Oh! Yeah! Right! Of course it is!" She looked away. "No."

"It is?" asked Tech.

"Yes! Here I am, a proud Witch, and I'm not flaunting my magic to teach you how to use it! I should be casting spells to help you study and everything and I'm not using it and being a responsible parent—you know what? I'm gonna call your teacher and tell what a horrible role model I've been." She snapped her fingers and the phone flew into her hands and dialed itself. "Mrs. Chow…" She walked off.

Ryan walked up to Kelly and pulled her off into the hall. "What's wrong with you? You busted us for paintball!"

Kelly scoffed. "Well, you busted me for Spanish, I'm just evening out the playing field here."

"I'm done with you."

"Ryan—"

"Eh-nah-ah! Done!" Ryan walked off.

Kelly stared after him and then rolled her eyes and walked back into the living room.

"Thank you!" said Sophie, "I mean…" She zapped herself. "…_gracias._" She hung up, un-zapping herself as she did so. "Good news! Your teacher said that she'll give you a retest!"

"Great," said Tech. He turned to Kelly. "And you are not gonna go anywhere with your friends until you get that grade up."

Kelly was about to argue, but Sophie intervened: "Tech, this is my responsibility. Don't worry, honey, I'm gonna help you with that _espanol_."

"OK, that's fine, but I really need help with my Spanish, too."

Sophie looked at her. "_Espanol_ is Spanish."

"_Espanol_ is Spanish for what?"

Sophie sighed. "This is gonna take a while."

"No, it won't! We're gonna maximize my studies habits and whip right through this." She turned to her dad. "I mean, midterms are just halfway to finals so I only need to study half as hard. And since I study twice as hard as everyone else, I only need to study a quarter. And since Mom is helping to a point where it goes twice as fast, we only need to study an eighth. So an hour should be enough. See how that works?"

Tech blinked. "No. And I'm the dad and you lose. See how that works?"

Kelly sighed. "Fine." She sat down next to her mom and the couch as she called forth the textbook. "Let's just get through this so I can go on my date with Pierce on Friday."

"Two days to learn a whole language?" asked Duck, sitting in his own chair, "I got some Spanish for you: no way, Jose." He started laughing.

Sophie started to take off her glove.

"Backing off." Duck ran out.

Sophie and Kelly smiled at each other.

_Two hours later…_

The gang was doing the magic lesson.

"And finally," said Daniella, "did you guys know that in the magic world, there's a way to get information quickly and easily?"

"You mean like the internet?" asked Ryan.

"Speaking of the internet, when am I gonna get a computer in my room?" asked Jack.

"It's cooler than the internet," said Wendy, "And never."

Jack sighed.

"Come on, we'll show you," said Daniella. She led them over to the wall and zapped it to open their tech portal (you know, what they use to get magic technology and stuff like that, doesn't work the same as the normal one or the mail one or all those portals, it's a complicated system). "Alright, you just pull this lever, and it generates pocket elves, tiny little creatures who are born with in-depth knowledge of anything you could possibly need to know about. You just pull on this thing and whatever pocket elf you want comes shooting…" She hit a button next to the lever and a chute appeared next to it. "…out of the magic tech portal."

"Oh! Can I do it?" asked Wendy.

"Sure, go ahead."

Wendy walked over in her sister's place and prepared for it. She jumped up, slammed down the lever, and grabbed the football-shaped golden container that came out of the chute. "There." She zapped the tech portal away. "Now you have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips and you've played a fun game of catch."

Daniella took the container and led the gang over to the couch, gesturing to it to let them know to sit down. She got on her knees on the floor and put the container on the coffee table. "Now, I believe that the best way to teach you guys about pocket elves is from a pocket elf himself." She opened the container and pulled out a creature even smaller than a Brownie, who appeared to be dressed like an elf and who had pointy ears like an elf.

"Wow!"

"That's amazing!"

"He's cool…and tiny."

"Thanks," said the pocket elf, "I know. Good day, I am the pocket elf who specializes in history and use of pocket elves. Now, pocket elves are useful for research on everything from magical illnesses to magical creatures. Any questions?" Kelly raised her hand. "Yes, little lady in the attractive hat?"

Kelly smiled, adjusting her knit peach cap. "Thanks. Uh, are there pocket elves on subjects non-magical?"

"Because of the Witchcraft-World Equal Opportunities Act, there are pocket elves on all subjects. Shaquille O'Neil? I know his pocket elf. He owes me an autographed shoe that I'm going to be living in."

Michael raised his hand.

"Yes, boy with the 1980's jacket?"

Michael looked at his jacket and took it off. "How many pocket elves can you check out at once?"

"None!" Wendy intercepted the question, "They're not library books!"

Jack sighed and started to open a chocolate bar.

"Can I have some of that?" asked the pocket elf.

"Sure."

"NO!" Daniella jumped on him and grabbed the chocolate. "What are you doing?!"

Jack looked at her.

"Oh!" the pocket elf spoke up, "Did I forget to mention that pocket elves are not supposed to have chocolate?"

"What happens if he has chocolate?" asked Ryan.

"Well," said Daniella, "to you and me, chocolate is a delicious treat, often used to say 'sorry' to a loved one…but to this little guy, it's like lighting the fuse on a crazy bomb."

"Then let's set this baby off and give him some chocolate!" Jack cried, excitedly.

"You know," said the pocket elf, "in this controlled environment, perhaps it would be healthy for the students if someone would give me some chocolate—you know, purely for educational purposes."

Daniella considered it. "Fine. For educational purposes only, we'll do this. Feet up off the floor. Collars all the way up. No open-toed shoes. And whatever you do—WHATEVER YOU DO—do _not_, EVER, under _any_ circumstances let a pocket elf bite you." The others obeyed her orders as she put the chocolate bar in a box. She grabbed the pocket elf by his shirt and prepared to put him in the box.

"Oh, wait!" the pocket elf interrupted, "Before we get started, I just wanna say thank you so much for the chocolate and I'm really sorry for what you're about to see."

Daniella quickly dropped him in the box, shut it tightly, and locked it as fast as she could. "Being married to Rev so long has finally paid off."

"WHOA-HO-HA!" The box started shaking.

Daniella grabbed it. "Proceed to an exit in orderly fashion!" Everyone raced out. She held the box and it pushed her back onto the floor.

_Another three hours later…_

Daniella had finished cleaning up after the pocket elf and sent him back and now Kelly and Sophie were studying.

Sophie closed the book. "OK, let's review…" She stood up, zapped herself, and started looking around. "_Como se dice_…" She gestured to a lamp.

Kelly thought about it. "Lamp-ito."

Sophie looked at her. "_Lampara_. It's OK. It's OK." She kept looking. "_Como se dice_…" She held up a cup.

"Cup-ito."

Sophie sighed. "Honey, just adding 'ito' to a word doesn't make it Spanish."

"You keep saying '_como se dice_' before everything. Is that Spanish?"

Sophie groaned as she put the cup down. "If things keep going this way, I'm gonna have to send you to Acme Mexico."

"But my test is tomorrow. And if I don't pass, I won't be able to go on my date with Pierce on Friday."

"I know." She thought about this. "Maybe we can help Sarah make some cookies on Friday."

"Sarah is gonna be out, too."

"Oh." She thought about that. "Maybe we can zap up some cookies."

"My magic hasn't come in yet."

"OK, you're making this really hard for me."

Kelly groaned and walked off.

_The next morning…_

Nadine raced up to Lucy, Kelly, and Sarah in the halls of the school. "OK, so we need to go over our outfits for Friday." She was already wearing a strawberry hat, pineapple skirt with matching flip-flops, and watermelon T-shirt, but she did proceed to pull other interesting outfits out of her bag. "I mean, I really don't wanna stick with this whole fruit theme but I don't want us to all be wearing the same thing. So while I was in sewing club and home ec., I made…" She started going through the hangers and handing the outfits to Lucy. "…teddy bears, needle and thread, hearts, ice cream, cupcakes, pizza—"

"Whoa!" Lucy said, "You really made all these that quick?"

"You have no idea how much fabric I can stick in a modern-day sewing machine."

"OK…" Lucy handed her back the teddy bears. "Just stick with this for now. And the time after that."

"Good, then we're set." Nadine started putting the others back in her bag.

"As long as Kelly has her Spanish retest covered," said Sarah.

"I'm taking it right now during study hall," said Kelly, "just consider this test…pass-ito."

Sarah nodded. "OK." She walked off with Nadine and Lucy. "Yeah, she won't be there."

Kelly sighed and opened her locker.

"Ah, _senorita_!" said a pocket elf sitting on her textbooks, "You are so lucky to have me as your Spanish language pocket elf, yes?"

"Be quiet, elf!" Kelly hissed, "You're here to cheat on my Spanish test." She put him in her book bag, closed her locker, and walked off.

"Ooh, a journal! 'Dear diary, Pierce is such a hottie with his new haircut'—"

Kelly slammed him into a trash can.

"Ow!"

"Oops, my bad." She walked into the Spanish classroom.

_After school…_

Kelly walked into the living room and looked around. All clear. She walked over to the coffee table and opened her bag and put the pocket elf on the table. "OK, wake up, senor-ito. We're home."

"Can I make you breakfast, _chicita_? _Huevos rancheros_? Perhaps you can dine on that while I enjoy some semisweet chocolate that you give me, huh?"

"OK, your Spanish confuses me, but I'm not giving you any chocolate."

"Ooh! It was a test, and you passed."

Kelly rolled her eyes and put him back in his container.

"That's why I want to grow old with you, _chicita_!"

"Dad! We finished cleaning the roof."

Kelly quickly hid the container behind her back.

Ryan walked in. "You're not Dad…is that a pocket elf?"

Kelly stuffed the container in her bag. "No! It's my…retainer case."

"You don't have a retainer."

"You don't know what goes in my mouth."

"And what a beautiful mouth it is, _senorita_!"

Kelly groaned, leaning her head back. The pocket elf could not keep his mouth shut.

"Oh!" said Ryan, "So you're so good at Spanish that you taught your retainer case how to speak it! Cheater!"

"I didn't cheat—"

"Eh-nah-ah! Cheater!"

"I just used the pocket elf to get the answers right on the test—OK, I cheated. So what?"

"So what is you're in trouble."

"Come on, Rye, please don't tell Mom and Dad."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't. You ratted us out for paintball and made me spend the last two days cleaning off wood and listening to Jack sing. Enough said." Kelly nodded. "You know what? I'm not gonna tell on you."

"Thanks!"

"I'm gonna get even."

Kelly laughed. "Yeah, right! Remember the last time you tried to get even with me? I got free tickets to a movie and you got what?"

"…shotgun on the trip there."

Kelly smiled. "Exactly. And some things never change." She walked off.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The gang was still in the cabin on the boat.

Brenda closed the curtains over the porthole to keep the sunlight off of Austin. "Alright, so what happened? I mean, obviously, your parents found out you were cheating."

"Not until a lot later…" Kelly said.

_Three years ago…_

The girls, Ace, Rev, Duck, and Slam were all in the living room. Tech was in the lab, Kelly wasn't back from school yet (having had to pick up her retest score), and Ryan and the other boys were off conniving.

Kelly then walked in. "Guys! Guess who just got an A+ on her makeup test!"

"Really?!" cried Sophie, "Let me see!" She took it.

Daniella looked it over. "Wow! You even got the subjunctive conjugations!"

Kelly sat down. "Well, you know what the Spanish say…_si_."

Sophie smiled.

Tech walked in.

"Dad!" Kelly jumped on him. "Guess what? I aced my retest and I'm going on my date with Pierce tonight."

"Oh, boy."

Kelly stopped smiling.

"I wasn't expecting this. I'm actually kind of disappointed."

"That I passed?"

"Yeah. 'Cause now we have to have the date talk."

"OK, we're out!" Duck raced out, followed by Ace, Lexi, Rev, Wendy, Slam, Sophie, and Daniella. Nadine, Lucy, and Sarah looked at one another and followed.

"Alright, look," said Tech, "A lot of times when you're out alone with a boy, he's thinking about—"

"'Alone'?" Kelly asked, interrupting, "What are you talking about? We're not gonna be alone."

"You're not?"

"No. Nadine, Stacy, Kenny, Lucy, Brian, Chandler, Sarah, and Noah will be there, too."

"Oh. Wow. That's not what we called a date when I was a kid."

"What was a date when you were a kid?"

Ace, Lexi, Daniella, Sophie, Wendy, Rev, and Duck came back in behind Kelly's back and started gesturing silently not to tell her.

"Uh…you know what? You're right! That is a date!" Tech quickly raced back to the lab, the other parents following him.

Kelly stared after them. "What just happened?"

_That night…_

The boys were the only ones in the lobby. The girls and all their parents (and Slam) were in the living room and Kelly was still getting her stuff.

"Is she still getting ready for her date?" asked Jack.

Ryan checked the security cameras. "Yup. And she's gonna be a while. I tied all her belts in one big knot. It's why the other girls actually got ready before she did."

"This is gonna be great!" said Michael, "When that pocket elf goes wild on her date, she's gonna wish she was home making us cookies."

"Oh! Here they come!" Benny cried as the elevator turned on.

All the boys sat down on the couch and started reading.

The girls and their parents (and Slam) came out.

"I'm sick of waiting on Kelly what's taking her so long?" Nadine asked, adjusting her teddy bear dress.

Kelly came down the stairs, holding up a jumble of belts. "I'll tell you what's taking me so long: Ryan got even with me for ratting them out for paintball—tied all my belts together in one great big knot so I'd be fashionably late for the date." She dropped the pile of belts on the floor. "Wow, you got me, you're so clever."

"Yeah," said Ryan, "I don't even know why I try, you are too good for me. Well, at least you can relax and know there's nothing else to worry about."

"Yeah," said Jack, "nothing's gonna go wrong as long as you take your purse—" Robert discreetly elbowed him in the stomach as hard as he could.

Kelly sighed and grabbed her purse out of the belt pile. "Alright, girls, let's go."

"Have fun on your date!" Tech called after his daughter as she walked out the door. As soon as they were gone, he started laughing. "It's so not a date."

_At the restaurant…_

The group of kids walked into the restaurant.

"Welcome to Medium Rare," a waitress said, unenthusiastically, "How many?"

"10," said Kelly, "But Lauren and Meg might come, and if they do, Brian will definitely leave."

"And if Brian leaves," said Sarah, "Then Stacy will call Francine who will definitely show up."

"Which means I have to leave because we're fighting," said Lucy.

"How many is that?" asked Nadine.

Kelly tried to count it out but lost track. "Well, there might be more to it, but I think it's either 10, 11, 13, or 12."

The waitress just stared at them. "Follow me to your table for 10, 11, 13, or 12." She led them off.

"So, I heard you got your learner's permit," Kelly told Pierce.

"Oh, yeah, check it out." Pierce took it out of his wallet and showed her.

"Wow. That's a great picture of you. But you know what would make it better? Me in it with you."

"I don't think they do that." Pierce put it back and walked off.

Nadine smiled at Kelly. "You two are so clicking!"

"I know. He's so cute! And he can drive with a parent or guardian during any daylight hour."

_Meanwhile…  
__At the tower…_

The boys were still in the lobby.

"This is great!" Benny said.

"I know!" said Ryan, "I bet the elf went crazy."

"And Kelly is probably flopping all over the floor," said Robert, "trying to hold her purse shut so no one sees the pocket elf."

"And I'll bet she even looks as stupid as Aunt Danni did," said Michael.

"Yup, we're geniuses," said Jack.

"By the way," said Benny, "how much chocolate did you put in her purse?"

Jack pulled out a chocolate bar. "About this much—oops." The guys all glared at him. "I was supposed to put _this_ chocolate in her purse, wasn't I?"

"That was your only part of the plan, genius!" said Ryan.

"I told you not to trust me with a complicated plan like this!"

"What's so complicated about putting that chocolate in her purse?!" asked Robert.

"That I had to _remember_ to put _this_ chocolate in her purse!"

Michael groaned.

"We've gotta get to the restaurant and get that chocolate in her purse!" said Benny.

_At the restaurant…_

The guys peeked into the restaurant. No one was looking. They walked in and hid behind a buffet at a vantage point where they could see Kelly.

"I was thinking that when I get my ride, I'm gonna get a little license plate keychain with your name on it," Pierce was talking.

"Sounds great." Kelly leaned in to the girls. "Did you hear that? He's gonna put my name on his keychain!"

Sarah started fanning herself with her hand, looking away. "I'm gonna cry. I promised I wouldn't cry!"

The guys were still hiding.

A waiter walked up to them. "Uh, excuse me." The boys looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"Uh…" Ryan sighed. "Trying to figure out how to get chocolate into that purse."

"Why?"

"To mess with our sister," Michael asked.

"I have a sister…get in!" The waiter let them into his tray cart. He start to wheel them off.

As they passed the table, Jack levitated the purse under the cart when he knew no one was looking. He dumped in the chocolate…and it shot right back out.

"Why did that chocolate just shoot out of her purse?" asked Robert.

Benny took the chocolate and tossed it in.

"_No mas_!" The Spanish pocket elf came out. "_No mas_! As much as I want, I cannot!"

"Great," Ryan groaned, "we picked the one elf that's on a diet."

"Come on, elf, eat it!" Michael said, "You know you want to…"

The elf took the chocolate and started to eat it. "Oh, this is good. Oh, this is really good!" He got back into the purse, taking the chocolate with him. "You boys probably wanna get away from me right now."

Benny put his hand out from under the tray. "Home, Jeeves!"

The waiter wheeled them back to the table.

As they passed again, Jack levitated the purse back to where it was.

"Kelly, do you have a nail file or something?" asked Nadine, looking over her nails.

"Let me look." Kelly started to sift through her purse. _CHOMP!_ "Ow! Something bit me…" She realized what that could mean. She backed away from the table and opened her purse all the way to reveal the elf inside, eating the chocolate. "What are you doing here? And why did you bite me?"

"I'm eating chocolate like there's no tomorrow. And you can't have any! You can't have any!"

Kelly looked back at the table. No one was looking. She turned back to the elf. "I don't want any of your chocolate."

"Oh, you will, baby! You gonna love it!"

Kelly instantly shut her purse as tightly as possible and scooted her chair back to the table.

"He didn't go crazy, he just bit her!" Jack said, hiding behind the buffet again.

"I wanna get my ride in midnight blue," Pierce was telling Kelly.

"Oh, that would look great with my eyes—can I have a bite of that?" She dug her spoon into his sundae.

"Uh…sure."

Ryan looked at his sister. That wasn't normal for her.

"What color interior?" Kelly asked Pierce.

"I'm thinking tan leather."

"Hmm. I'm more of a dark leather person—can I have that?" She took Sarah's sundae.

Sarah tried to process that. "Uh…OK…"

"Mm. Oh!" Kelly got up and started dipping into everyone's sundaes. "And you know what's not a good color combination? Our school colors. Green and gold. Ugh! That's for leprechauns. I should start a petition to change our colors to midnight blue and chocolate." She took a milkshake with a chocolate straw in it and prepared to start drinking it. "Oh, wait, that's not a straw." She shrugged and bit into it, ferociously.

Pierce looked at her. "That's an interesting story…"

"Hold that thought!" Kelly grabbed a large hot fudge sundae that was going by on a waiter's tray. She set it on the table and sat back down. "You were saying?"

Pierce stared at her, a little scared of the way she was now devouring her latest prize. "I wanna get the tires for my ride…bigger in the back and smaller in the front…it's called 'chopper style.'"

"Oh. I hope it doesn't run on chocolate. That would be a waste of chocolate." Kelly jumped up and ran after a chocolate cake. A waiter set it on a table a couple was sitting at. She looked at the "Happy Anniversary" stand on it and improvised. "Happy anniversary, you guys! I knew you two would work out. I love you guys—can I have some?" She took off the "Happy Anniversary" stand and dug right in. Before that was even gone, she looked to the side and saw a chocolate fountain going by. She dropped the cake and ran after it. "Oh, wait, I want that!"

Pierce looked at the other girls. "Is she OK?"

Sarah smiled nervously. "You know us girls. Gotta have our chocolate." She turned to Nadine and Lucy and whispered the rest: "A pocket elf must have bitten her!"

Kelly held up a vat of chocolate sauce. "Now we're talking." She instantly started drinking it.

"You think?!" Lucy hissed.

Kelly stopped, savoring it. Then a waiter bumped her as he went by and she dropped most of the rest of the sauce on the floor in a chocolate river. She smiled, shrugged, and put the vat back on the tray cart. "Does anyone know the chocolate slide?" She jumped onto the floor and slid down the chocolate river. She then proceeded to make chocolate angels.

"Revenge is sweet!" Jack said.

"And sticky!" Robert added.

Kelly finally got up, covered in chocolate, and sat back down next to Pierce. "That was fun. What a nice break from chocolate—ooh, chocolate sounds good right now." She grabbed what was left of Nadine, Lucy, and Sarah's ice cream and the vat of chocolate sauce, smothered the ice cream in the chocolate sauce, and started eating them, licking herself off between bites.

"Listen," Pierce said, "I just had the nachos so I think 10 is good." He took 10 quasar-linium out of his wallet and tossed it on the table where he'd been sitting. He prepared to leave as fast as he could.

Sarah got up. "She had a really nice time and she totally wants to go with you again!"

Pierce looked at her and then at Kelly and groaned and ran off.

Kelly held up some ice cream for her sister, who shook her head.

"Want me to call your parents?" the waiter asked the boys.

"That's a good idea," said Ryan, taking out a notepad and writing down the number, "I think they should see this." He handed the waiter that and five bucks. "And we had nothing to do with it."

The waiter nodded and walked off.

_A half hour later…_

The gang walked into the living room.

"And how long did you think it was gonna be before we realized you didn't know Spanish?" asked Sophie, angrily.

"I really only needed you to think it till the date was over, so I'm good," said Kelly, still coated in chocolate.

"No!" Daniella jumped in, "You are not good. You almost exposed magic to the mortal realm!"

"Yes. And I already punished myself because I embarrassed myself in front of Pierce and he probably won't ever text me again."

Tech turned to his sons while Wendy was sending the pocket elf back. "And the fact that you boys were just conveniently down at the restaurant tells me you have something to do with it."

"We were at another place!" Ryan said, "We had stopped there on the way home."

"From where?" asked Ace.

"From a place…that Jack knows the name of."

Jack thought. "Pass."

"What is going on here?" asked Lexi.

"OK!" cried Benny, "Listen, the thing is—"

"Sarah called them when things started to get out of hand," said Kelly, "They just came down to help. It's not their fault."

Wendy closed the tech portal. "You—"

"Yeah, Mom," said Jack.

Tech sighed. "Fine. For now." He turned to Kelly. "You, go hose off on the roof."

"Fine."

"And you guys clean it up when she's done. We don't need ants." Tech walked off, followed by the others.

The boys cornered Kelly before she could go to the roof.

"Thanks for not ratting us out," said Ryan.

"Don't thank me. I didn't rat you out because I'm gonna get even for you guys getting even."

"Uh oh," said Jack, "Her getting even is way worse than telling."

Kelly smiled at them.

"DAD! IT WAS US!" Ryan cried, running after his parents.

"WE DID IT! WE DID IT!" Jack yelled after him, the other boys following.

Kelly walked off for the roof, smiling. Things always worked out for her someway.

_Now…_

Brenda was laughing. "That seriously happened?"

"It's not that funny!" Kelly snapped.

"It kind of is!" Brenda started laughing even harder, grasping her side.

"It's always you getting in trouble and getting us in trouble, too," Ryan scolded his sister.

"Name one other time."

"Mirdra, Amy, Seven Sisters, Roxie, Haven, Holloway, Austin, Tiara—"

"OK, I said _one_ time! Show off."

"Oh, and let's not forget the psychic research gang."

"Oh…"

"What?" asked Brenda.

"Well, it all started five years ago at the tournament volleyball game…"

_Five years ago…_

The school volleyball team was in a tournament match. Kelly and Lucy were on the team.

Lucy, in her ribbon-pigtails (her trademark hairstyle at the time), spiked the ball, but it was still bounced back.

Kelly prepared to catch the next serve. "I got it! I got it!" Suddenly, a vision kicked in.

_Nadine got up from her seat and accidentally flicked her hand against the table. "Ow! I broke a nail!"_

Kelly came back when the ball hit her in the head and knocked her down.

The other team started cheering, knowing they'd just won.

Kelly sat up on the floor, rubbing her head where the ball had impacted it.

Before the team could nail her, the gang pulled her up and off.

"Kelly," Lucy said, "what happened? You said you had it!"

"I did. But then I had a vision. You don't think everyone's mad, do you?"

They all looked. The team was lined up, glaring at her.

Wendy sighed. "OK, relax, everyone. I'll handle it." She walked over. "OK, I know what you're all thinking: that this was the championship tournament game and your one shot at beating Harrison after 27 years—I don't know where I'm going with this."

Kelly groaned. "I'm sorry, everyone."

All the girls walked away, groaning and mumbling.

"Alright, what was with the vision?" asked Ryan, "And it better be important because 27 years—!"

"I KNOW!" Kelly snapped.

"Well, what was it?" asked Nadine.

"You're gonna break a nail." They all looked at her. "It was the pinky! Come on, you know the one that she used to do Dr. Evil with." She held a pinky up to her face.

Nadine rolled her eyes.

"Alright, let me try this another way: I didn't ask for these visions!"

"It's cool, let's go," Sarah started to lead them off.

"Oh, wait, I left my stuff!" Kelly ran back to get her jacket, bag, and shoes while the others headed out.

A fairly pretty chinchilla girl walked up to her. "I know what happened back there."

"Yeah, I missed the ball." She grabbed her stuff and started to leave.

The chinchilla stopped her. "But I know why." She took a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to her.

Kelly took it and looked it over. It was a business card. "Sleevemore Center for…" She looked at her. "…for Psychic Research?"

"My name is Carla. Carla Chinchilla. Drop by sometime." She walked off.

Kelly looked back at the card.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"There's actually a center for psychic research?" asked Brenda.

"Yeah," said Kelly, "turns out, not all psychics are mutants or Witches or—in my case—both. Some of them are just naturally born to use all their higher brain functions so they automatically are capable of doing stuff like we can do without having to be a mutant."

"Weird…"

"Yeah, totally. But I didn't think so when I stopped by…"

_Five years ago…_

Kelly walked down the hall of a building. She reexamined the card to make sure she had the right address and then saw a door with writing on it:

"Dr. Sleevemore  
Psychic research"

Kelly shrugged, knowing she had the right place. She put away the card in her pocket and prepared to knock.

Before she could, a white mouse boy opened the door.

"Oh, hi. I'm looking for the—"

"This is it."

"Well, the reason I'm here is because—"

"Yeah, I know. You had a volleyball game, had a vision, screwed up, everybody's mad at you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

"Did you just read my mind?"

"Well…"

Carla came up to him. "Martin, don't freak her out."

"Oh, it's OK. My best friend is a mutant, she reads minds, so…"

"Well, actually, he didn't read your mind for that last part, I told him the whole story."

"Gotcha!" Martin Mouse said. He laughed.

"Martin's a second-degree telepath and a first-degree pain-in-the-neck."

"Well, you know, that's why I love it here. In school, I'm just a pain-in-the-neck."

Kelly smiled. "Hmm, just like my cousin, Jack."

"Come on in." Carla let her in and showed her a room full of computers and people and anthros.

"Wow. Your electric bill must be off the number line. What do you guys do in here?"

"Well, we develop our psychic skills," said Carla, "Like Manna here." She gestured to a brunette Oriental girl who was holding a spoon and focusing on it. "She's a spoon-bender."

The spoon bent over by itself, not moving from her grip otherwise.

"Wow," said Kelly, "you…bend, girl."

Manna smiled.

"We try to keep her away from the good silver," said Carla, taking Kelly off, "And that guy there…" She gestured to boy with fire-red hair, who was sitting in a chair, focusing on a marshmallow on a stick. "…he can start fires with his mind. Hey, Sparky!" The boy waved at her.

"Hey, my best friend can do that, too," Kelly said.

"Man, are all your friends psychics?" asked Carla.

"What? No. Mutants. Completely different."

"Oh, so you're a mutant psychic. Wow, those are very rare. Your life must be complicated."

"You have no idea. So what are they doing with Sparky over there? Some kind of experiment?"

"Actually, no, he's making smores."

The marshmallow burned a little and then went out.

Kelly smiled. "Wow. Nadine can't do that without burning it to a crisp."

"That shows how some psychics actually hold up their powers better than the average mutant when trained right. Usually, people wouldn't make that connection, especially with your kind around."

"Wait, then what's your thing?"

"Well, I'm a telepath, so I can read people's thoughts, and I'm telekinetic." To demonstrate, she lifted and dropped a ball.

"Wow. Jack can do that, but he's not that good. He's a first-class mess-up."

Carla laughed. "You're gonna fit right in."

"I don't know. I mean, from the way you describe it, I'm even different here. I wish I just knew how to, you know, get in tune with my powers."

"Then you've come to the right place." An adult male husky walked in. "Hello, I'm Dr. Sleevemore. Welcome to my center." He shook her hand.

"Dr., this is Kelly, the girl I told you about," Carla explained.

"Ah, yes, you had the vision and screwed up the volleyball game."

"Carla…" Kelly looked at her. "…did you have to tell everybody?"

"Oh, Carla didn't tell me," said Dr. Sleevemore.

"You read my mind?"

"Oh, no, Martin told me."

"Right. Good old Martin."

"Kelly, I believe we can help you." He led her over to a chair, on which a boy was currently sitting, hooked up to a machine. "First, we measure your psychic abilities using the Sleevemore Cerebral Oscillator." He pounded the keypad and an electrical current surged through the helmet the boy was wearing. "Oh, dear me." He pressed a few buttons to put it back on the normal setting.

Kelly forced out a nervous smile.

_A half hour later…_

Kelly was now in the chair, hooked up to the machine.

Carla was holding five different child's playing cards with different shapes on them.

"I see…a circle," Kelly said.

Carla sighed. "Wrong again." She held up a star.

"It's like they're letting anyone in these days," said Martin.

"Martin," said Dr. Sleevemore, "do we have to give you another timeout?"

Martin sighed and shook his head and went back to examining notes on his clipboard.

"It doesn't really matter," said Kelly, "I'm not a card-reader. Being a mutant, I'm a strict psychic: a future-seer."

"Oh, a clairvoyant?" Dr. Sleevemore assessed.

"No. I mean, I can't turn my visions on and off—"

"Well, if you can't turn them on…" Martin said.

Kelly glared at him. "I think I'm seeing a long life of loneliness for you, Martin."

"I'll tell you what, Kelly," said Dr. Sleevemore, "Let's do this some other time—"

Before Kelly could fight back, a vision kicked in.

The lights started flickering and the oscillator went berserk.

"Dr. Sleevemore, it's oscillating!" Carla cried.

"That's what oscillators do, Carla!" Dr. Sleevemore cried back.

Kelly blinked as the oscillator stopped what it was doing.

"You just had a vision, didn't you?" asked Dr. Sleevemore.

"Yes, and I suggest you take three steps to the left."

Dr. Sleevemore obeyed.

As soon as he was out of the way, a light fixture dropped from the ceiling and landed on the floor where he'd been standing.

Everyone applauded.

"Well done, Kelly!" cried Dr. Sleevemore, "You just registered a 7.4 on the Sleevemore Psychic Scale. And a perfect 10 on the Sleevemore 'thank you' scale."

"Well," said Kelly, "you should see me when I'm warmed up." She looked at Martin, smiling in-your-face-ly and batting her eyes.

"Well, I've gotta admit, I had my doubts," said Martin, "But you're definitely one of us."

"Welcome aboard," Carla said, smiling.

"Thank you. Man, this is so weird." Kelly took off the helmet. "Normally, I have to hide my visions unless I'm with my family. And even then I sometimes can't tell them, like for the 10 years we didn't know about each other's powers. But now…" Kelly got up from the chair. "You know, it's just so great to be able to be myself."

"Well, you're welcome to be yourself here anytime," said Dr. Sleevemore, "Let's meet again tomorrow."

"And afterwards, we can all go out for pizza," said Martin.

"Well, you know what, I kind of had something planned, but…" Kelly sighed. Her family met everyday and this was a rare chance. They'd understand. "You know what? Forget it. I'm coming with you guys."

"Excellent," said Dr. Sleevemore, "Ooh! I smell popcorn."

They all looked and saw someone holding a bag of popcorn over Sparky's head.

_The next morning…_

Kelly was on the couch in the living room, going over stuff on her laptop.

The others came in.

"Hey, Kelly," said Nadine.

"Did you guys see what they put on the school website?"

They all crowded around her.

Kelly pulled up a video.

_The volleyball hit Kelly in the head. Replay. Replay. Replay. Replay._

They all busted out laughing. Except for Kelly.

"IT IS NOT FUNNY!"

"Shameful!" Duck shouted.

"I'm completely not laughing!" Michael said.

"So, where were you last night?" asked Nadine, "I mean, I called to see how you were doing when you didn't show up for dinner, but it went straight to voicemail."

"Oh, I must have forgotten to charge my phone. But you know what?" Kelly closed her laptop and put it on the table and got up from the couch. "Actually, I was out and I really wanted to talk to you guys about it. You know how my visions can sometimes be a problem? Well—"

"'Sometimes'?" Jack cried. He reopened her laptop. "May I direct you to the screen?"

_Kelly got hit in the head by the ball. Replay. Replay._

"Yeah," said Kelly, sarcastically, "it's really funny."

"Man, when you zone out for the visions…" Ryan started laughing. "I mean, you remember when you overflowed your orange juice because of one? That was ridiculous."

"Oh, and it's always something so important," said Nadine, "like a broken nail. Oh, and, by the way, Kelly, me and pinky?" She held up her pinky to her face. "Still doing it."

"Kids, stop torturing her," Sophie stopped them. She turned back to her daughter. "So what did you wanna tell us?"

Kelly was now glaring. "Well, I'm not really gonna be able to go out with you guys tonight—"

"Oh, come on, Kelly," Sarah said, "It'll be fun! We've been planning this for months. Movies, pizza—"

"Well, I just can't make it. You know…Daisy Dupree's rat is having a crisis and I promised I would help her watch him."

"Oh…" Sarah looked at the others. "Well…OK, I mean, if you're sure—"

"Oh, I'm sure." Kelly glanced at Jack watching the computer screen play the video over and over again. She grabbed it and closed it as she walked off.

_That night…_

The psychics and Kelly were sitting at a table in the pizza place.

A waitress came out. "Oh, great, table full of kids. What a joy." She walked over to them.

Carla saw her coming. "Kelly, check this out."

The waitress pulled a fluffy pen out of her hair. "OK, what'll it be?"

"Uh," Martin said, "we'll have a small half-cheese and half-pepperoni, an extra-small sausage, and a medium vegetarian."

The waitress wrote this down, stuck the pen back in her hair, and started to walk off.

"Wait! I'd like to change that!" Martin called her back.

The waitress came back.

Carla discreetly began to move her finger.

The pen floated out of her hair and started to dance around her head in just the right places for her not to find it. "Has anyone seen my—" They all pointed at her head, where the pen now rested. She grabbed it and smiled. "My lucky pen. Wouldn't wanna lose that." She walked off.

Kelly laughed. "You know that was wrong."

"Oh, you know, it's so easy to goof on the normies," said Martin.

"'Normies'?"

"Oh, that's what we call non-psychics behind their backs," said Carla.

"Like 'how many normies does it take to screw it a light bulb?'" Martin added.

"How many?" asked Kelly.

"One, but he doesn't do it until after it burns out!"

They all laughed.

"See?" Kelly asked, "My family would not get that joke."

"Now that's why it's way more fun to hang out with your own kind," said Carla.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I love my family. And we have just as much in common as you guys do with me—all of us here are psychics, me and all my family are mutants. It's just that…sometimes nobody really understands what I'm going through."

"Ah, the normie problem," said Martin, "We've all been through it."

Kelly blinked a little and shook her head a bit.

"Are you OK?" asked Carla, "Is it a vision?"

"No, it's more like a vibe."

"Well, just go with it."

"OK…" Kelly closed her eyes and focused. "I see…uh…17 people…I can't really make them out…they're really angry…they seem familiar. Who are they?"

The gang came up behind her.

"Hey, Kelly," Nadine jumped in.

Kelly opened her eyes, cutting off the vibe.

"How's the rat?"

Kelly didn't look at them. She was afraid to.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Do we wanna know what happened next?" asked Austin, "'Cause this is getting a little weird for me."

"Hold on, it gets weirder," Kelly told him.

_Five years ago…_

The psychics were still at their table when their pizza came, but Kelly was sitting with her family in a not-so-far away table.

"So you met some kids who were psychic," said Nadine, "Why'd you have to blow us off?"

"And you lied to us, too," said Benny.

Kelly sighed. "I'm sorry, I just…well, I wasn't certain if you guys would really be interested in them and whatnot—you have totally different interests. You all like to go to the movies and they…" She looked at Carla, who was now levitating the pizza to sprinkle pepper all over the sausage. "…do that."

"OK, tell me I did not just see that," said Daniella.

"I know, that was a lot of pepper," said Wendy.

Daniella glared at her sister. "The pepper was floating! And they're not mutants or Witches."

"I don't care. That was still a lot of pepper."

Daniella groaned and buried her head in her arms on the table.

"Look," said Kelly, "you guys have been on my case lately and I found some people who understand me. And I—"

"—would rather hang out with those freaks than us?" Ryan asked.

The psychics all heard that and looked at him.

Kelly stood up. "'Freaks'? Is that what you call me behind my back?"

Sarah stood up, too. "He didn't mean you, he meant them—"

"These people are just like me! If they're freaks, then so am I!"

Sophie got up. "Kelly—"

"Just get out of here." Kelly went and sat back down with Carla and the others.

"Fine, we will." Ryan got up and left, followed by the others.

"Right behind you." Nadine grabbed her stuff. As she got out of her seat, she accidentally flicked her hand against the table. "Ow! I broke a nail!"

"Pinky?" Kelly asked.

Nadine narrowed her eyes at her. "You know what? I don't even care."

"Yes, you do," Martin said, reading her mind.

Nadine groaned, stomped her foot, and stormed off.

Kelly smiled at the other psychics.

_The next day…_

Kelly was sitting in the oscillator chair again, her eyes closed. "I'm seeing myself…surrounded by people…" She opened her eyes and saw that Dr. Sleevemore, Carla, Martin, and Sparky were all leaning over her, waiting for something to happen. "…who really need to back up off of me. Personal bubble!" They all backed away.

Dr. Sleevemore examined the oscillator readings. "You're tense and irritable…and down to a 1.6 on the Sleevemore Scale. This requires further study." He took the papers off to his office.

"Come on, Kelly," Carla said as Kelly took off the helmet, "If there's something wrong, you can tell us."

Kelly sighed. "It's nothing."

"That's not what I'm getting," said Martin.

Kelly glared at him. "OK, big-shot. Since you know everything, what am I thinking?"

Martin focused. "You…are thinking…about…changing shampoos."

Kelly imitated a buzzer. "Conditioner. Next!"

"You're also worried about your normie friends."

Kelly said nothing.

"Kelly, it's OK," said Carla, "We all know what it's like when your friends think you're a freak."

"Actually, they think you're the freaks."

Carla sighed. "That is so normie. Well, if that's how they see us, then that's why we have to stick together."

Kelly half-smiled, considering that. "I guess you're right."

"It's for the best. Now, come on. Sparky's making nachos." Carla led her over to Sparky, who was in his chair, frying some cheese for their chips.

"Oh!" said Martin, "I'll get it!" He walked over to the door.

_KNOCK! KNOCK!_

The gang was at the door.

"Uh, we come in peace?" Lucy said, holding up her hand in the peace salute.

"Oh boy," said Martin.

"Yeah, we wanna know what's going on here," said Tech, putting down Lucy's hand.

"Right," said Duck, "and we're not leaving here until we get some—" He sniffed the air and smelled cheese. "Nachos!" He raced for the cheese.

Kelly saw them and stopped them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We really need to talk to you, Kelly," said Lexi.

"Uh, Kelly?" said Carla, "Dr. Sleevemore doesn't like visitors during research hours."

"'Research'?" asked Duck, "Girl, you guys are melting cheese!" He grabbed some chips.

Kelly groaned. "I'll handle this." She swiped the chips and pushed them over to the side. "Let me guess? You're here to see the freak show?"

"Look, Kelly," said Ryan, "I'm sorry about what I said. We're here to apologize."

"We really need to work this out here," said Lucy.

"Yeah, if these are your friends," said Sarah, "then they're our friends, too."

Kelly smiled. "Really?"

Sarah nodded.

Kelly hugged her.

"Uh, excuse me!" Martin jumped in, drawing their attention to the line of psychics on the opposite wall, "What if we don't wanna be your friends?"

Wendy scoffed and walked over there, followed by the others. "Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's time for you to leave," said Carla, getting ready to throw them out.

"Well," said Ace, "what if we don't want to?"

Carla smirked. She pointed at the tray of doughnuts and then at Jack, tossing one of the glazed at him and hitting him in the face with it.

Sarah scoffed. "So you can throw a lousy doughnut at Jack. With your mind. Whoo!"

Carla threw the whole tray at him.

"That was actually pretty impressive. BUT! I'll bet you cannot do that with a chair."

Carla started to lift a chair.

"SARAH!" Jack snapped, countering the attack along with Wendy to put it back down.

"Will you guys stop it?!" Kelly cried, "This is my family you are tele-pelting!"

"We're your friends!" Carla snapped back.

"Not anymore." Kelly started to leave with her family, Sophie pulling her out by the arm.

Carla held out her hand.

Kelly stopped moving.

Sophie realized she wasn't moving and stopped the others. "Kelly. What's wrong? Let's go."

"Uh…I-I can't." She then realized what was going on and turned her head to glare at Carla. "Carla!"

"Please, Kelly, don't go!" Carla said, "You have an amazing gift. You were making such progress. You should be here!"

"She should be with her family!" Sophie interceded, "Now let's go!"

Carla turned to the other psychics. "Guys, a little help here!"

They all held out their hands.

Kelly feet lifted. "AAAHHH! Who turned off the gravity?!"

"Let her go!" Carla cried, "She belongs with us!"

"She belongs with us!" Ryan cried.

"I BELONG ON THE GROUND!" Kelly snapped.

"Alright, that's it!" Wendy started pulling her with her own powers.

Jack joined in to help his mom.

Suddenly, the two groups were pulling her in opposite directions and they lost their hold on her.

She started bouncing off the walls and flying all over the place. She hit the ceiling. "Ow! Even my clothes hurt!" Then the forces kicked back in and pulled her back down towards the chair…

Dr. Sleevemore came back in. "Not the oscillator!" He used his own power to counteract the forces and pull her back to the ground…a little bit too hard.

Kelly groaned, a little dizzy. "Oh, I have a tail concussion!"

Ryan and Carla both pulled her up, holding on to different arms.

"You better hope my sister's OK!" Ryan snapped.

"Us?" asked Carla, "You're the ones who let go!"

"Just like the normies!" Martin snapped.

"I'd rather be a normie than a freak!" Ryan snapped back.

"WOULD YOU STOP IT?!" Kelly cried, pushing them all off. She looked at her family. "You are not normies." She turned to the psychics. "And you are not freaks. We're all people here—in a way. I mean, we all still go to school, the movies, we eat pizza, we play volleyball—"

"Some better than others," Lucy jumped in.

Kelly glared at her. "The point is…" She turned back to the group as a whole. "I'm psychic, yes, but that's not all I am. I'm a mutant, that's how I'm psychic. You guys, you're still different." She turned back to her family. "And we're all mutants, yeah, but you guys need to learn that we're not the same and we can't all solve our problems the same way and I'm…different. Even amongst the people I'm most like, I'm still different. I love it, I hate it—that's the problem." She turned back to the psychics. "What I'm trying to say is…I'm not just a psychic…and that's not all you are either." She walked over to Dr. Sleevemore. "Listen, Doc, thanks for all of your help, but…I think it's time for me to go."

Dr. Sleevemore sighed. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Kelly…but just remember, our door's always open for you." The door opened itself. "Thank you, Carla."

Carla smiled.

"That's gonna be the phone." He walked off.

_RING! RING!_

Kelly walked back over to the psychics. "Bye, guys."

"Look, Kelly," said Martin, "I just wanna say…" He turned back to the other psychics. "OK, guys, guys, don't all think at once!" He turned back to Kelly. "_We_ just wanna say that…we're sorry."

"Don't worry about it," said Ryan, "We're sorry, too."

"Oh!" Carla walked over to Jack. "And yes, Jack, I will go out with you."

Jack looked at her. "Wait, how did you—oh! Right! Well, I look forward to—is something burning?"

"Jack, it's you!" Wendy cried.

Jack looked at his tail. The feathers were on fire! "YOW!" He jumped up and put it out.

"SPARKY!" Carla scolded. She looked at Jack. "Oh, I'm sorry. We used to date. He's still not over it."

"Well, I guess he still has the _hots_ for you," said Wendy. She started laughing. Then she was hit in the head with a muffin. "Ow! Carla!"

"Oh, sorry, girl, that was me!" said Kelly, waving her hand.

Wendy glared at her.

_Now…_

Brenda was stifling giggles.

"It's not funny!" said Jack.

"You gotta admit, it kind of is," said Brenda, laughingly.

"Well, Dr. Sleevemore sure came in handy when Kelly was having those messed up visions two months ago," said Tech.

"I wasn't here two months ago," Brenda and Austin both said.

"Then I guess we have to explain," said Kelly, "See, a couple weeks before game guy came around…"

_Two months ago…_

Sarah was standing at a stand of shampoos.

A small group of girls was sitting in the lobby with her, watching her.

Sarah read out of a handbook. "'Hello. And welcome to the Mother Nature's Beauty Secrets party. Smile here.'" She realized what that meant and forced out a smile. "Uh…'Our shampoos are all-organic, safe in use for anthros, and completely vegetarian. Now, someone I have never met will tell us how she feels about this all-natural shampoo.'" She waved her hand theatrically.

Kelly walked in.

"Hey, sis."

Kelly glared at her.

"I mean, stranger."

Kelly half-smiled and turned to the girls to do the act she and Sarah had planned out beforehand. "Hello, ladies. Ever since I've been using Mother Nature's Beauty Secret, my hair has never felt more bouncy, shiny, or full of luster."

"'Wow,'" Sarah continued, "'Now who would like some free samples?'" She gestured to the cart.

The girls got up, each grabbed a bottle, and walked off.

"Man, Kelly," Sarah said once the girls were all out of earshot, "once they try those free samples, the orders will come pouring in."

"No, they won't," said Kelly, "Because you just gave out the product." She reached into the bottom shelf of the cart and pulled out a bottle less than a quarter of the size of the bottles the girls had taken. "_THESE_ are the free samples!"

Sarah realized her mistake. "Oh, man, not again!" She slammed the handbook onto the cart and ran for the door. "Hey, wait! I think I gave you the wrong—"

A car warmed up and sped off.

Kelly didn't catch this. She was focused on her vision…

_Someone opened their locker._

_Archer was inside, dressed like Red Riding Hood, brushing his teeth. "Can't a guy get some privacy?"_

_The person shut the locker._

Kelly blinked. Huh?

"Kelly," said Sarah, getting her attention, "you're supposed to watch me."

"Sorry, I was kind of watching something else." Kelly tried to figure out what had just happened.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Brenda looked at Kelly. "Huh?"

"Yeah, I didn't get it either," Kelly said.

"What was that?"

"Well…"

_Two months ago…_

The gang was collected in the lobby (except for Jack and Duck, who were off doing something). Kelly had just told them about her vision.

Archer was in Lucy's lap. "So I was a Little Red Riding Hood brushing my teeth in your locker? Man, that's ridiculous!"

"I know, you don't even have thumbs," said Lucy as she petted him. Everyone looked at her. "What? He doesn't."

"Alright, that's never gonna come true," said Archer. He looked at Daniella. "Right?"

"Of course not!" said Kelly, "I've been having these weird visions all week. A few days ago, I had one about a scratching cat."

"What's so weird about that?" asked Lexi.

"Well, he was scratching on the turntables!"

They all looked at her funny.

"Old Whiskers was even going 'micki-meow-micki-meow-micki-micki-meow—HISS!'"

They all kept looking at her.

"And then yesterday, I had one about Duck and Jack dressed as a cowboy and sailor searching for gold on the moon."

"Did you tell them?" asked Wendy.

"Well, yeah. What? Do you think they're actually gonna go to the moon to look for gold?"

They all started laughing.

"Dressed as a cowboy and a sailor?" asked Michael, adding to the laughter.

Before they could stop the laughing fit, a police officer walked in and interrupted them. "These people claim they live here."

Duck and Jack walked in dressed as a cowboy and a sailor, each holding a shovel.

Kelly looked at them. "What?"

"I caught them digging up Mona Moon's yard," the police officer explained.

"Officer," said Duck, "we had a very _strong_ suspicion…" He glared at Kelly, who sighed. "…that there was something very valuable there."

"Was it your dignity, sir?"

"We filled up the hole!"

"I'm watching you, cowboy. And you, too, Popeye." The policewoman walked away.

Kelly glared at them, standing upright with her arms crossed. "You guys dug up Mona Moon's yard?"

"Yeah," said Jack, "because you said there'd be gold there!"

"I said the real moon!"

"Well, I can't go to the moon in these clothes! It's embarrassing!"

Kelly groaned. "I thought I told you my visions had been messed up lately. I don't know what's wrong with me!"

"Kelly, if it's bothering you so much," suggested Tech, "why don't you just talk to that guy at the psychic institute?"

"Dr. Sleevemore? You know, that's actually not a bad idea. Not only is he a doctor, he's also a psychic like me. You know, minus the whole half-Vampire/Ghost Whisperer/Witch thing."

The doorbell rang.

Sophie answered it.

Dr. Sleevemore came in, carrying a case full of…stuff. "Kelly. I had a very urgent feeling that you'd require my services. Sorry I took so long." He looked at everyone else. "Hello."

_An hour later…_

Dr. Sleevemore had brought along an updated version of his oscillator and set it up and was now hooking Kelly up to it as she sat in a chair with the helmet on.

"So," said Tech, "this will help Kelly figure out why she's having these weird visions?"

"It should."

"Is it gonna hurt?" asked Kelly.

"It shouldn't. But…if your ears start to smoke, raise your hand."

"WHAT?!" Kelly instantly scrambled to take the helmet off.

"Small joke!" Dr. Sleevemore stopped her and calmed her down. "Small joke. A little Sleevemore humor always helps to relax the brain before we fry it." Kelly whimpered. "Again, small joke! Now, any questions before we start?"

"Yes!" Sarah jumped up. "I'm trying to earn some extra money, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in some organic shampoo designed specifically for anthros." As she got out a free sample bottle, the others groaned. They'd been hearing about this all week. "It leaves your fur bouncy, shiny, and full of luster just like Kelly's."

"Hmm…" Dr. Sleevemore took the bottle. "You know, it's funny. My wife and I were just discussing how my fur has plenty of bounce but does lack luster." He examined the bottle. "Mm, _champignon_, very nice."

"Hello!" Kelly said, "Hello! Can we get back to me now?!"

"Oh, right, sorry!" Dr. Sleevemore went back to her.

"We'll talk," Sarah said, sitting back down as the doc put the bottle in his coat pocket.

"Now," said Dr. Sleevemore, "in order to determine what happened to result in these bizarre visions you've been having, I will use this device to probe your brains and transmit images of your memories onto the screen." He gestured to a large screen he'd set up on the wall.

"You're gonna probe Kelly's brain?" asked Ryan.

"You'll have to find it first," said Jack. He and Ryan both started laughing.

"You know what?" asked Kelly, "I'm gonna probe my half-Vampire FOOT—"

"ALRIGHT!" cried Ace, getting them all to shut up, "Enough, you three!"

"Alright," said Dr. Sleevemore, "let's start oscillating." He clapped his hands and the device started beeping as it turned on. "Now, Kelly, has there ever been a time when you felt that you weren't yourself?"

The device beeped again as the screen lit up in a flash of silver light.

_Tech raced up to her. "Kelly…"_

_"I am Zaria! Princess of the Serpent People."_

_"No, you're not! You're Kelly Coyote, from downtown Acmetropolis. You love ice skating, you have a boyfriend and a family who love you, and you're ticklish behind your left ear!" Just to demonstrate, he tickled her there._

_Kelly laughed. Zaria grabbed him. "How dare you touch me, dog!" She threw him off._

_"Wow, she really doesn't wanna give that crown back."_

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly walked into the restaurant in a strawberry blonde wig, brown sunglasses, and a faux fur coat._

_The host walked up to her. "Welcome to—"_

_"Two steps back!" Ryan snapped. The host complied._

_Kelly looked at everyone staring at her and spoke in an obviously fake voice: "Please. Stop looking at me! Why can't I just…" She flipped her wig. "…blend in?!"_

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly was sitting in a chair in a press conference room in a fedora, trench coat, and simple black sunglasses. She stood up. "Kara Kingsley, _Acme Press_. Are you sure that these attacks couldn't possibly have been by…oh, I don't know—a shape-shifting alien?"_

_"Uh—" started the guy at the podium._

_"An out-of-shape cobra?"_

_"I'm not so certain that—"_

_"Perhaps some freakishly deformed mutant Witch—"_

_"I GET IT!"_

_Kelly stopped._

_"Could you please just sit down?!"_

_Kelly nodded and sat back down…making the chair collapse. She looked around at everyone. "Ha, ha, I'm just gonna—" She scrambled up and raced out the door._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly held out her hands. __"_Kelly, Ryan, cambia coporum, meum corpora, sua numinavi_." __She clapped her hands together and she and Ryan switched bodies._

_"Ryan?" Ryan/Kelly asked._

_Kelly/Ryan looked at his body. "Kelly?"_

_"Yes!"_

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly pounced on Austin in her Vampire form. He fought her off._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly sat down on a stool, wearing a flowing dress, a blonde wig, and clearly fake glasses. She strummed the guitar she was holding. "Hello. I am Sunshine."_

The flashes stopped.

Dr. Sleevemore looked at Kelly. "Wow. Uh…"

"Yeah," said Kelly.

"You seem to have issues of some sort—"

"Oh, it's not that. It's just that our lives are really complicated."

"I can see that. But that doesn't explain what's wrong with your visions. You know, it might be physical. Have you had any bad falls?"

Kelly thought about how to answer that. "Well, one or two, maybe…"

The screen lit up again.

_Kelly fell through the ice in the pond._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly attempted a double axel. She fell in the landing and bumped her head on the ice._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly came through a hole in the wall. "Whoa! What just happened?"_

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly was tossed around by the octopus demon. "This…was…payback…wasn't it?!"_

_"Pretty much!" Austin called out after her._

_*FLASH*_

_Juniper looked at Tabitha. "When are these kids coming?"_

_Suddenly, they heard two people screaming in the distance. The screaming slowly became closer until Kelly and Ryan appeared and dropped on the couch in the living room._

_Juniper sawed this and stared at them._

_Tabitha forced out a small smile. "Apparently, now."_

_*FLASH*_

_"Relax, Car," said Karen, "I'm sure they're zapping themselves back here right now."_

_Suddenly, they heard screaming in the distance. They looked up as the screaming got closer and Kelly and Ryan dropped from the ceiling and landed on them._

_"Gotta work on my landings," said Ryan as he got up, helping Karen up after him._

_"You said it," Kelly said, getting up and helping up Carmen, "Ow."_

_*FLASH*_

_Suddenly, Haven heard approaching screaming. She dared to look up and Kelly and Ryan dropped on her._

_"Alright, that's starting to get annoying," Kelly told her brother._

_*FLASH*_

_"Did it work?" asked Jack._

_Suddenly, they heard distant screaming getting closer. They all slowly looked up and saw the bright white light reappear and let Kelly and Ryan drop on top of the circle of Witches._

_Ryan got up first. It took him a few seconds, but he finally regained his balance. "Alright, now that's just plain getting old."_

_Kelly slowly stood up. "I am _not_ OK." She fell over again. Sarah helped her up._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly looked at the bridge supports holding her up. The fourth one broke and finally the last one. She screamed as she fell before Rev finally caught her._

_*FLASH*_

_Tech punched Kelly in the nose, knocking her down. He grabbed the starter device._

_"I'm OK!" Kelly moaned, not realizing what her father had just done._

_*FLASH*_

_"Let her go!" Austin commanded Valentina._

_Valentina scoffed. "Very poor choice of words." She let go of her hold on Kelly and dropped her off the building._

_Luckily, she landed on an awning. Unluckily, this resulted in the breaking of the awning and she fell onto the sidewalk. "I'M OK!"_

_*FLASH*_

_Zaria pulled Jack over the side of the ship._

_"They went overboard!" Wendy cried._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly flew over a fence and landed on Tech. She got up. "I am _not_…OK…" She fell back down._

Everyone was busted out laughing.

"She went way up in the sky!" cried Jack.

"HELLO!" Kelly cut in, "HELLO! PAIN! A LOT!"

Everyone stopped.

Dr. Sleevemore examined some paper. "Well, I'm sorry, Kelly, but I've looked at the data and I can find no plausible explanation for your problem."

"So her visions are just gonna stay jacked-up?" asked Lucy.

"I hope not!" Kelly snapped, "It was bad enough when they were normal!"

"Well, it might just be a temporary mental virus," suggested Dr. Sleevemore, "However, there is an alternative, but it is quite extreme."

"I'm listening," Kelly said.

Dr. Sleevemore sighed and put down his papers. "Well, I can de-oscillate the hemisphere of your cerebral cortex that controls your paranormal vibrations."

Kelly blinked and kept staring at him. "Doctor's gonna do what?"

"I can zap your beam and turn off the visions forever."

Everyone sat upright at that and stared at him in shock.

Kelly stared at him. "What?" She looked at everyone…


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Really?" asked Brenda.

"You almost did that?" asked Austin.

"I know, I know," said Kelly, "But if it helps…let me finish the story…"

_Two months ago…_

"Are you serious, Doc?" asked Kelly, "One zap and my visions are gone forever?"

"Wow," said Sophie, "just imagine that. Instead of being a psychic Ghost Whisperer/half-Vampire/Witch/mutant, you'll just be a normal…Ghost Whisperer/half-Vampire/mutant Witch. Yeah, there's not really much of a difference, is there?"

Tech glared at his wife then turned to his daughter. "Kelly, this is an enormous decision. Shouldn't you think about this?"

"I am thinking about it! I'm thinking about all the trouble that my visions and I have caused us!"

The screen lit up.

_Lyra attacked the gang with her magical dagger and fizzled out their powers._

_*FLASH*_

_The kids started disappearing._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly went blind._

_*FLASH*_

_Melvin almost blew up the planet._

_*FLASH*_

_Robert disappeared and the other kids got stuck on the DreamScape._

_*FLASH*_

_Sarah got up as soon as they'd left the planet's atmosphere and looked out the window in the door that led out of the shuttle after docking. "Uh, guys?" Everyone turned to her. "If we're chasing him…" She moved out of the way to show them the approaching spaceship. "…why is he behind us?"_

_The kids ran for it._

_*FLASH*_

_Vorcultrax awakened and brought forth the Daughters of the Dark._

_*FLASH*_

_Roxie attacked the gang and almost killed them._

_*FLASH*_

_A bunch of magic villains awakened and attacked the gang._

_*FLASH*_

_Holloway took the gang's powers._

_*FLASH*_

_Matt and Izzy tried to sacrifice Kelly and kill the others._

_*FLASH*_

_Tiara's spell kicked in on Kelly and made her collapse in the street as visions bombarded her._

_*FLASH*_

_"Michael?" Kelly asked, panicking._

_"What?"_

_"You brought home the wrong baby!"_

_*FLASH*_

_Tech hit the button on the bomb detonator and the meteor exploded, taking him with it._

_*FLASH*_

_Valentina attacked Kelly, making her scream._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly slid down the chocolate river on the floor and started making chocolate angels._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly then rushed up and jumped up high enough to kick both Valentina and Esmeralda in the faces, knocking them down. She got herself together…and fainted._

Kelly sighed.

"What caused you to faint like that?" asked Dr. Sleevemore.

"Oh, I ate a mushroom," Kelly answered, "I'm super allergic."

Dr. Sleevemore scrambled to take the free sample shampoo bottle out of his coat pocket and held it up. "Have you been using this shampoo?"

"Yeah, everyday. Why?"

"Do you know what _champignon_ means?"

"Yeah, it's French for 'shampoo', right?"

"No, no, it's not. It's French for 'mushroom'."

Kelly screamed as Sarah started to inconspicuously make her way out of her chair. Kelly grabbed the bottle. "Mushroom shampoo—" She put it down. "Sarah…" Sarah stopped moving. Kelly looked at her. "Did you know about this?"

Sarah slowly turned to look at her sister. "No."

Kelly glared at her.

"OK, yes! I'm sorry! I forgot you were allergic!"

Dr. Sleevemore sighed. "Well, there's your answer. The shampoo seeped through your skull and had an allergic reaction with your cerebral cortex, manifesting itself in—as your friend, Lucy, so quaintly put it—these 'jacked-up' visions!"

"Was it that lame when I said it?" asked Lucy.

"Pretty much," said Benny.

"So, wait," said Tech, "if she stops using this shampoo, the visions will go back to normal?"

"Yeah, they should," Dr. Sleevemore answered.

"Oh, you'll be back to yourself in no time!" said Sophie.

"Right, myself," said Kelly, "Falling off buildings and taking you guys down with me, getting people killed that I care most about, causing everyone on this planet trouble."

"Kelly, what are you saying?" asked Daniella.

"I'm saying I'm done! Go ahead and zap me, Doc."

Dr. Sleevemore looked at her, but she didn't appear to be changing her mind. "Alright. I'll just have to make a few adjustments."

"Kelly, this is pretty drastic," said Tech.

"Yeah," said Ryan, "you know what? Forget all the things Jack and I say about you and to you. Forget all the times you hurt people, because you didn't mean to. Just forget about that. Think about all the good times we had because of you and couldn't have had without you."

Kelly stared at her brother, sadly.

The screen lit up again.

_Sophie looked at herself and then at her family. They saw her. "I'm alive?" They all hugged her._

_*FLASH*_

_"DAD!" Kelly and Sarah wrapped their father in a bone-crushing hug (you know, like Slam would do)._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly smiled at her father. "Let's just promise not to get in each other's way again."_

_"Agreed."_

_"The list is up!"_

_"Out of my way!" Kelly pushed him aside and ran past him._

_*FLASH*_

_"So you're pregnant?" Lexi asked Sophie. Sophie nodded. "I'm pregnant! That's what I was trying to tell Ace!"_

"_Excuse us for a second," said Ryan. The four coyote kids left the room. The three bunnies followed. The whole group, and not just Lexi, could easily hear all seven of them jumping around excitedly (with Michael screaming "I'm not gonna be youngest! I'm not gonna be the youngest!"). After about a minute, the seven teens came back in. "What'd we miss?"_

_*FLASH*_

_Nadine and Kelly hugged after coming out of Nick's spell._

_*FLASH*_

_Sophie and Tech had Gabby, TJ, and Polly._

_*FLASH*_

"_Man-it's-a-good-thing-you-guys-came-around-I-mean-we-were-just-about-to-snap-and-I'm-not-sure-how-much-more-we-could've-taken-before—" He stopped when he saw Robert come into the room. "ROBERT!" He rushed up and squeezed his son tightly._

"_Dad! Choking…not breathing!"_

_Rev let go. "Sorry."_

_*FLASH*_

_"Look, it turns out Jack was right. So, you know, Robert came back and all and…you know, I think maybe we shouldn't worry about this 'cause maybe we were only supposed to have one kid so we should—" Duck stopped himself when he saw Wendy come out of the bathroom and glare at him. "What now?"_

"_I'm pregnant!"_

"_Oh! Oh! Well, uh…that wasn't very fair! Uh…let's try that again."_

"_OK." Wendy went back into the bathroom and then jumped out. "I'm pregnant!"_

_Duck whooped and they both rejoiced._

_*FLASH*_

_Ace and Lexi had Buddy, Penny, Oliver, and Virginia._

_*FLASH*_

_Wendy and Duck showed Jack his baby sister._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly opened her fist to reveal a tiny glowing ball of bright white light._

"_You actually caught a star?!" Daniella asked._

"_Good gift," Wendy said._

_*FLASH*_

_Sophie looked at Paige. "Paige, I can see you."_

_Paige looked at herself. She was alive._

_*FLASH*_

_Austin was staring right at the blonde twins._

"_What?" Kalyan asked._

_Jordin kicked Austin's leg. He fell._

"_Ow!"_

"_Sorry!" Jordin said as she got up, "Kali, we're alive!"_

_*FLASH*_

_Zeena pulled as hard as she could and snapped the horse's neck, making it drop dead. "That'll show you!" She kicked it. "Wait a minute…"_

"_Zeena?"_

_Zeena looked at Lexi and Ace, who were both now staring right at her. She looked down at her hands. They were tangible and so were her feet. She was alive! She smiled._

_*FLASH*_

"_Oh, and, uh…" Kelly sensed Roxie coming up behind her and zapped her without looking. "…is it OK if I come back on the team?"_

_Sarah smiled. "There's always room for family."_

_Kelly smiled._

_*FLASH*_

_Daniella and Rev showed the team Rebekka._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly and Ryan permanently opened the portal between Acmetropolis and Anasala._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly and Austin kissed._

_*FLASH*_

_Kelly was in a bed in the medical wing. "But what I saw…all those visions…there's so many people out there hurting…Austin, we have to help them."_

_He took her hand, still smiling. "We will."_

_She smiled back. Slowly, she started to lean in…_

_Tech opened the door. "Hey, how are you—"_

_Kelly pulled away._

_"I interrupted something, didn't I?"_

_Austin got up from the bed. "Not at all."_

_*FLASH*_

_"So you twisted the spell and turned him into a beagle?" asked Wendy._

_Archer got up on all-fours. "'Beagle'? What are you talking about?"_

_Wendy took out a compact mirror and opened it._

_Archer looked at it and screamed and jumped back. "I'm a dog! I'm a tiny, floppy-eared, fur-covered, canine quadruped!"_

_"Great!" Wendy said, putting up the mirror, "Now what do we do? We can't just leave him out. With as many people as did the spell, it's bound to be set up right, so it's likely that he'll be stuck like this for like 750 years. And I doubt anyone would wanna house a talking beagle who used to be an evil Warlock."_

_Lucy looked at her excitedly. "Does that mean we get to keep him?"_

_Wendy sighed. "I guess we have to keep him."_

_All the kids squealed._

_*FLASH*_

_Sophie got closer to Tech. She gazed at him…and then slapped him. Hard._

_"What was that for?"_

_"What do you think that was for?! You had me worried sick for two months thinking you were dead!"_

_"Hey! I was trying to protect Kelly—"_

_Sophie kissed him._

_"Ah, get a room!" Ryan groaned._

_Sophie and Tech smiled at him._

_"And that?" Tech asked her._

_"For coming back."_

_Tech smiled at her._

_*FLASH*_

_"At least it's finally over and we're all one big, happy family again," said Nadine._

_"No hugging," said Jack._

_Nadine sighed._

_3…2…1… "Oh, who am I kidding?! Get over here!"_

_They all hugged._

The screen turned off.

Kelly smiled. "Wow."

"Alright, Kelly," said Dr. Sleevemore, "sit back and relax and your visions will be gone forever."

"NO!" Kelly started trying to stop him and accidentally hit a button. The chair started spinning her around and the oscillator started smoking.

"Hold on, Kelly!" Dr. Sleevemore cried over the machine's incessant beeping, "I'm trying to find the emergency brake!"

Kelly kept spinning. Suddenly, it stopped and she lurched forward with such force that she was launched across the room and into the wall.

"Found it," Dr. Sleevemore said.

Kelly got up and took off the helmet. "I'm OK!" She walked over to them.

"Are you OK, honey?" asked Sophie.

"I don't know." Kelly turned to Dr. Sleevemore. "My visions aren't gone, right?"

"I don't know! You jacked up my oscillator!"

"Will you stop saying that?!" demanded Lucy.

"No! I can't lose my visions!" Kelly cried, "Sure, the world's at jeopardy with me at the wheel of that kind of power, but it's even worse for everyone if I don't see that bad stuff coming ahead of time! …and I just wouldn't be me without them."

"Oh, Kelly…" Tech started, taking her hand.

Suddenly, Kelly's eyes flashed silver.

_Everyone jumped up from the couch and raced over to hug Kelly._

_"Oh, that's right, you guys!" Kelly squealed with happiness as Archer jumped onto her._

Kelly smiled and took her hand back.

"Your eyes just flashed silver!" said Nadine, "They only do that when you have a vision!"

"Yes!" Kelly said, smiling even wider as she paced over to the wall, "And it was a normal one!" She turned back to face them all. "You guys were all rushing up to hug me." She held her arms out.

"Aw…" Wendy said.

Kelly put her arms down and glared at them all. "I said 'rushing'!"

"OH!" Ryan got up and ran over to her, followed by the others.

"Oh, that's right, you guys!" Kelly squealed with happiness as Archer came up and jumped onto her. "Just like my vision."

They all hugged.

_Now…_

Brenda smiled. "Oh, you guys."

"I know," said Kelly, smiling.

"Wait a minute," said Brenda, "There was one flashback you guys mentioned that I didn't recognize: Kelly and Ryan never switched bodies."

"Oh!" Kelly said, "Yeah, that was one big deal about five months ago."

_Five months ago…_

Ryan walked up to Kelly in the halls of school.

"So how'd your history test go?" asked Kelly.

"Fine, but I kind of blanked in the essay part. Of course, I cleared it up when—"

"Wait a minute! There's an essay? I thought it was all just multiple choice! That's why I did all my studying over the weekend and not last night, knowing that I wouldn't need to cram."

"Not that it helped that we had a mission last night and didn't get home till after midnight."

"Thanks for that. And now the class is next and I'm not ready and don't have time to cram." Kelly closed her locker. "That's it, I need to switch brains with you."

"WHOA! I took the test once, I'm not taking it again. It's cheating anyway! And another thing, I don't want your little girl brain in my body. And I don't want to be in your girl body."

"Would it help if I promised you that it would only be for the one hour?"

"No."

"Or that I promise that I'll study next time?"

"You'll forget."

"That I'm giving you 50 bucks in advance?" She pulled the money out of her purse and flaunted it by fanning herself with it.

Ryan looked at her. "Give me that." He took it. "I need to start my college fund anyway."

"There's my brother."

"Let's just do this stinking spell!"

Kelly pushed him off to the side and hid behind the lockers. She looked around to make sure no one was watching and held out her hands. "_Kelly, Ryan, cambia corporum, meum corpora, sua numinavi_." She clapped her hands together and the two switched bodies.

Ryan/Kelly smiled. "Ryan?"

Kelly/Ryan looked at his body. "Kelly?"

"Yes!"

Ryan in Kelly's body sighed. "Alright, Kelly, I'll take your test for you." He put her hand on her stomach. "But I need you to promise me you'll eat more. Did you not have breakfast? Why are you so hungry?"

"I was late." Kelly in Ryan's body looked around to make sure no one was watching and zapped up two chocolate iced doughnuts. "Here. My favorite."

Ryan-in-Kelly took them.

Across the hall, Michael closed his locker and a somewhat pretty mink cornered him.

"I had fun on our date last night, Mikey," said the mink.

"'Date'? What? No! It was a group museum tour and no one else showed up!"

"But I saw the way you looked at me."

"Daisy, I was looking at you because you were standing in front of every painting I was looking at."

"I was looking at you looking at the art because that was my art." She pulled out her phone. "And my new cell wallpaper."

Michael looked at the picture and his eyes widened in horror.

"I have read tons of articles about dating and relationships and last night was definitely a date."

"Staying alone with someone at the art museum all night because you don't wanna be rude and just bug out of there despite your family's constant urging to meet them downtown is not a date!"

"Oh, but I do all the quizzes, too. And they all say I'd be a great girlfriend!"

"'GIRLFRIEND'?!"

"Yes! I'll be your girlfriend! I'm so glad you asked!"

"NO! I don't think I did! And by the way, I'm talking slowly right now, which means I don't understand what's happening!"

"I'll tell you what's happening: love. And love is the most important thing. Because in the future, when the aliens take over, it's only thing we'll have left."

"You know, you didn't have to add the alien part because I'm already really scared—" He started to run, but she wrapped her arms around him, stopping him.

"That's how you know it's real! So what are you doing tonight? Because I think we should go on a second date."

"Oh! You do! I can't. I'm going to the Rangers game—"

"Great! It's a date! Oh, our relationship is off to a great start! And I know it's taken me a long time to say this, but I love you."

Michael stifled a scream with a groaning whimper.

Daisy squealed and ran off. "I'M IN LOVE!"

Jack walked up to Michael. "Alright, buddy, you've got a girlfriend! I didn't think it'd happen, man."

"What? No! She's not my girlfriend, she's insane!"

"Oh, then it's a good thing you came to me with this problem."

Michael looked at him. "I didn't come to you, you came to me."

Jack thought about that. "Oh, right. Well, I'm gonna help you anyway."

"OK…so how do we convince Daisy that she and I are not together?"

"Well…you know what? She's obviously insane. I'm stumped."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Oh boy," said Brenda.

"Yup," said Kelly, "The problem with the body-switching spell, we already knew that if you weren't back to normal by sunset that you'd be stuck like that forever. But that wasn't the only thing wrong with the spell…"

"And Daisy was absolutely insane, too," Michael added.

_Five months ago…_

"OK, Kelly," Ryan-in-Kelly said as the two walked back into the tower later (they were the last ones back, too, so no one was in the lobby, just the living room), "I really aced your history test for you."

"I hope you made it believable. Did you remember to make the O's in 'Coyote' like paw-prints when you wrote my name?"

"Doesn't matter as long as the signature looks real. I had a hard enough time writing the signature in your handwriting, let alone the essay. Just switch me back, so I can stop!"

"OK, fine! _Kelly, Ryan, cambia corporum, meum corpora, sua numinavi_."

Both of their bodies flashed in their signature colors (which were switched, too), but nothing else happened.

Ryan-in-Kelly looked at his sister…er, himself. "What happened? Why am I still looking at myself?"

"I don't know. Let me try again, maybe I said it wrong. _Kelly, Ryan, cambia corporum, meum corpora, sua numinavi_."

Same results.

Kelly-in-Ryan examined their bodies. "I don't know what happened. Don't worry. We'll just go grab some spell books and figure it out."

They walked off. They made it to the living room first.

"Hey, kids," said Daniella.

"Hey, Aunt Danni," said Kelly-in-Ryan.

Michael raced over to Ryan-in-Kelly and corner him in the hall. "Hey, Kelly. Look, I got stuck taking Daisy to the basher-ball game today…the problem is, she thinks we're a couple and we're not."

Ryan-in-Kelly sighed. "Figures that you'd end up with the crazy."

"So how do I get out of it?"

"Tell her the truth?"

"Tried that. Didn't work. When'd you get soft?"

Kelly-in-Ryan groaned. "If you wanna get rid of her, you'll need a Roman candle, a boatload of maple syrup, and a mini-trampoline. But we're not using the maple syrup for what you think." She pulled Ryan-in-Kelly off.

"And what did I think we were using the maple syrup for?" Michael asked, "Like who—oh…I get it."

_Several hours later…_

Duck walked into the living room carrying a box. "Hey, guys, check it out! Look what I just found in a yard sale: 'the Almost Charades Board Game', like we used to play on family game night."

"Duck," Wendy said, warningly, "we got rid of that thing for a reason."

"Family game night almost ruined these families," said Lexi.

"The screaming, the fighting, the throwing stuff, the cheating, the crying when somebody lost," Daniella added.

"But Sophie's around now and the kids are older," Duck explained.

"They weren't the ones who were crying," said Wendy.

"Come on, let's play tonight," said Duck, "Please! Please!"

"Fine!" Lexi submitted, "But we're playing it on the balcony on the 32nd floor."

"Why?" asked Ace.

"Because that way, we'll be out in open where all the neighbors can see us and we'll be shamed into behaving well. And when stuff starts to fly, the ceiling won't get stained with salsa." She led them all out to set up the balcony, leaving Jack alone to play his video games.

Michael walked in. He kicked a chair and knocked it down, threw his backpack onto the couch's pillow and punched it, and then…carefully took off his jacket and laid it out on the couch.

"So how'd the date go?" asked Jack.

"What do you think?" Michael went over to get a snack.

"I was thinking that I have a way for you to break up with her at the basher-ball game: when one of the players gets substituted, you lean in and go 'Strike three, you're out! No, seriously, get out of here!'"

Michael glared at him as he closed the fridge. "I kissed her!"

Jack's eyes widened. "OH! You wanted her to break up with _you_!"

"NO! I was leaning in to tell her we weren't in a relationship and they put us up on the big screen and the audience started yelling 'KISS! KISS! KISS, YOU GUYS, KISS!' And I choked under the pressure!"

Jack got up from the couch and thought about that. "You know what? I think I have a better idea. Dad is making us have family game night tonight. You know us, the cops will be there an hour after we get started."

Michael smiled, catching on. "And I'll invite Daisy."

Jack nodded.

"And she'll see how 'horrible' and 'mean' and 'cheating' the family is and never wanna see me again!"

"That's a great idea! I was thinking we could plant some of Mom's jewelry on her and get her arrested!"

Michael looked at him and then took out his phone. "I gotta call Daisy right now."

"Yup, you should've started coming to me for advice years ago, huh?"

"I didn't come to you, you were sitting there when I walked in."

"And you talked, that's good enough for me." He walked off.

Michael dialed the number.

Lexi walked in when he wasn't looking.

"Daisy! Hi. I was wondering if you wanted to come over for family game night tonight."

Lexi's eyes widened. She snuck out of the room and raced back down to the balcony.

"Great! See you then." Michael hung up.

Lexi came back onto the balcony. "Guys! Michael just invited some girl over tonight."

"Wow," said Tech, "he must really like her if he's bringing her over to meet us."

"Does he know it's family game night?" asked Sophie, concerned.

Lexi nodded. "He knows."

Daniella thought about this. "Well, I guess we'll not only have to keep the kids' secret but be on our best behavior for Mike's new girlfriend."

"Sure-Danni," said Rev, "we-can-totally-do-that-we-have-plenty-of-self-control-we-can-be-friendly-and-cordial-and-polite-good-sportsmanship-is-the-order-of-the-day!"

"Well, this ought to be fun," said Wendy, fluffing a pillow.

_An hour later…_

Kelly-in-Ryan and Ryan-in-Kelly were on Kelly's bed.

"Here's one that might work," said Kelly-in-Ryan, getting up. She helped up her brother and got her wand out of her boot. "_Hair-brain-ium, scheme-change-ium_." Their clothes got switched. They looked at each other and then in the mirror. "That's not it."

"Kelly," said Ryan-in-Kelly, "why am I still in your body except with my clothes?" He sniffed her. "And why do your clothes smell like watermelon?"

"The spell must have come out wrong, let me keep looking."

"Hurry! It's almost sundown!"

Kelly-in-Ryan stopped flipping and started waving the wand again. "_After all that's been said, wanna switch back our heads_." Their clothes switched back. "Oh, I did it." Kelly's voice came out of Ryan's body. Granted, Kelly was in Ryan's body, but it still should've been his voice.

Ryan-in-Kelly looked at her body. "Not exactly, Kelly, I still want my body back."

"Wait, you don't sound like yourself…or you do, but you shouldn't."

"You sound just like me…or…I sound like you…I mean, we sound like ourselves but we sound like each other!"

"OK, stop yelling! _Voices, right noises_." Silver and green light faded between them. "Well, that solved that problem," said Kelly-in-Ryan.

"Testing 1, 2, 3—again, I'd like my body back, Kelly!"

"Just let me try this one! _This has all been a pain, wanna switch back our brains_."

Their brains left their heads, smashed together, and flowed back into Kelly.

Kelly grabbed her head. "Wow, there's a lot of pressure in here."

Ryan dropped the wand and spell book and sniffed her. "Watermelon." He dropped onto the bed.

Kelly looked at him. She knocked on his head and a hollow sound came out. "Oh no. Now you have no brain!"

"Actually, my brain's still inside your head, Kelly!"

She gasped. That was Ryan talking out of her body! "Uh oh. Ow! All these brains are pounding against my skull, no wonder smart people are no fun!"

"Hey!"

Ryan's body looked at her. "Pretty—"

"No, no!" Kelly smacked his arm back.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"You're kidding, right?" asked Brenda.

"I wish I was," Michael, Kelly, and Ryan all said.

"What happened?" asked Brenda.

"Well…" Ryan said.

_Five months ago…_

Ryan's body was just walking around the room obliviously.

Kelly: OK, Ryan, maybe we should just try another spell.

Ryan-in-Kelly: Let's see, my brain is inside your head and I'm standing over there looking lost like everyone besides Robert, Dad, and Aunt Danni when Uncle Rev is talking. Sure, try another spell. I don't see how things could get any worse.

Kelly: Come on, Ryan, I know we can do this if we just put our heads together.

Ryan-in-Kelly: Well, our heads can't get much more together and that doesn't seem to be helping!

Kelly: Alright, fine, let's go ahead and just talk to Aunt Danni.

Ryan-in-Kelly: Really? Because I suggested that to you like a half hour ago, before you did all this. Just be thankful you did it all before sundown or we would've been stuck like that forever.

Kelly: OK! OK! Fine! I get it! I'm sorry! But…what do we with that thing while we're gone?

Ryan-in-Kelly: Kelly! "That thing" is me! …uh… Why don't we put me in your bed so I'll go to sleep?

Kelly: Aha! Looks like somebody's using their noggin!

Ryan's body looked at the bed. "Naptime!"

Kelly: See?

Ryan's body started to chase after Kelly again. "Lawnmower!"

Kelly: Oh, you don't know what this thing wants!

She started beating her brother's body with a pillow.

_Meanwhile…_

Michael walked into the lobby in as casual an outfit as he could find.

Daniella was wearing a pink ensemble. "Michael, you're on a date here. Shouldn't you put on something a little…oh, I don't know—clean?"

Michael looked at his outfit. "These are my good sneakers. They match the sweater."

Daniella nodded briefly and started eating some strawberries.

"Well," said Sophie, in a simple black dress that seems perfectly casual yet formal at the same time, "we're all excited that your little friend Daisy is coming over tonight."

"We'll do anything to help this romance flourish," said Tech.

"No!" Michael said. They all looked at him. "I mean…just be yourselves. I want Daisy to get to know you for who you are. This night should be like any other family game night."

Kelly and Ryan walked in…or rather, just Kelly.

"Hey, Kelly," said Lexi, "we're getting ready for family game night. Aren't you gonna come?"

Kelly: No, thank you. I don't really care for playing games that usually end in crime scene tape.

She walked into the corner.

Ryan: Oh, let's play, Kelly. We don't wanna let them down—

Kelly: Ryan! Shut up! We have to get Daniella and get out of here.

Ryan: They all deserve a right to know.

Kelly: Fine, but at least stop talking!

Ryan: I can't help it! Whenever I have a thought, it just comes out of your mouth. You can be so bossy. Oh! I didn't mean to say that!

Kelly: Ryan! Aunt Danni!

Kelly raced over to grab Daniella and bumped into Austin.

Kelly: When did you get in here?

"I lurk fast," said Austin.

"Get out, we're kind of busy tonight," said Tech.

Kelly: Actually, I kind of need to talk to you guys.

"What? What's wrong?" asked Nadine.

Kelly: I have two brains inside my head.

They all stared at her.

Sarah sighed. "If you're trying to psych us out for charades, that's not gonna work—"

Kelly: NO! I'm serious! I mixed up a bunch of spells and ended up with Ryan's brain stuck inside my head.

"Prove it," said Tech.

Kelly: Alright, just ask Ryan something.

"Who's the first President of the United States?"

Kelly glared at him.

Kelly: We're checking for Ryan, not a concussion!

Austin pushed him aside. "Let me deal with this."

Kelly: Fine, just talk to Ryan's brain.

Austin thought about that. "OK. Uh…let me see…" He put his hand on her shoulder. "Hello…Ryan's brain."

Ryan: Get your hands off my sister, Dead Boy.

Austin took his hand off of her. "Definitely Ryan's brain alright."

"How did this happen?" asked Wendy.

Kelly: I did the body-switching spell and I couldn't undo it—

"The body-switching spell?!" Daniella cried, "Don't you read the Witches Memos? That spell's been recalled. It's full of glitches!"

Kelly: What's wrong with it?

Daniella looked at her. "I think you just found out."

Kelly: Well, Austin, what do you think—

She looked around. He was gone.

Ryan: Man, he has a habit of doing that.

The doorbell rang.

"That's probably Daisy," said Michael. He went to answer the door, but pulled Kelly-and-Ryan aside first. "You know, you three should really get to know each other."

Ryan: I don't think so. We're going upstairs _before_ this thing gets out of hand.

Kelly: I'm with you there. I'M GOING UPSTAIRS TO GET…COLD CUTS!

Before she could leave, Michael opened the door.

Daisy handed him a tray with a cover on it and hugged him tightly. When she was done, she turned to the others. "_Teen Girl Magazine_ says 'never meet the family empty-handed' so…" She took the cover off the tray. "I brought cold cuts."

Kelly stopped trying to make her way up the stairs and threw up her hands.

"Terrific!" said Michael, "Now Kelly doesn't have to go upstairs! She can stay down here and mingle."

Kelly: Really? My sister's a cook, we practically own a deli!

Ryan: Kelly, we have guests. Be polite.

Kelly groaned and stormed off.

Sophie forced out a nervous smile at Daisy. "I'm Michael's mom, Sophie."

"And his calm, levelheaded uncle, Danger Duck," said Duck.

"Yeah, until the game starts," Michael muttered.

"Well, we better get started on the game," said Wendy, "so let's all just go out onto the balcony on the 32nd floor, in full view of the neighbors, where everyone can see us!" She pulled them all off.

Ryan: Let's go do it, Kelly. We're probably the best shot Mikey has at getting rid of this girl.

Kelly: Ryan, I am not playing charades. Besides, Daisy is a mortal and she'll know something is up if we start playing charades with two brains!

Suddenly, Kelly was fighting off the movement of her legs.

Kelly: Oh, you figured out how to move my feet?!

Ryan: I have a high IQ for a teenager and your brain has a short attention span. It's second-grade math!

Kelly: Well, I'm a Ghost Whisperer/Witch/mutant/psychic/half-Vampire and you're just a mutant Warlock. Do the math on that! No, I'm not playing!

Kelly fought so much that she was on her knees by the time they made it to the stairs.

_Meanwhile…_

Everyone else was on the balcony setting up the game.

"Remember," said Wendy, going over the rules while they all were writing stuff on slips of paper and sticking them in a bowl, "this is _Almost_ Charades, so you can only write the names of movies, books, or TV shows." She wrote down hers and stuck it in. When everyone had their titles in, Sarah started using her cooking experience to evenly mix them together. Wendy went over to the railing and sighed. "It's so nice to be playing a civilized game of charades with the family. YOU HEAR THAT?! WE'RE OUT HERE PLAYING CHARADES! In a friendly family way!"

"Quiet down there, you nut!"

Wendy groaned and went back to her seat.

"Alright, let's take the teams," said Daniella, "Team 1: Me, Ace, Lexi, Tech, Sophie, Nadine, Sarah, Michael, and the lovely Daisy. Team 2: Duck, Slam, Wendy, Jack, Rev, Kelly, Benny, Lucy, and Robert." She sat down.

Duck sighed. "Whatever you say, Danni."

"Duck!" snapped Michael, "Those teams aren't fair! Shouldn't you accuse Aunt Danni of stacking things in her favor like she or Wendy always does?"

"Whatever you guys want, I'm happy to comply," said Duck.

"Right," said Tech, pushing him into his seat, "because we just want Daisy to have a good time."

"Ah, Michael," said Daisy, hugging him again, "your family makes me feel like I'm already a part of it. We're so compatible!"

"KELLY, GET OUT HERE!" Michael screamed.

Kelly-and-Ryan came out. She smiled.

Kelly: Wow, Ryan, you're strong.

Ryan: It's all the books. Now, let's just help our brother and get Daisy off.

Michael looked at Daisy. "You're gonna love my sister. She has a lot going on up here." He pointed at his head.

Daisy smiled.

Kelly-and-Ryan walked up to her.

Ryan: Hello, Daisy. If you don't back off my brother, I'm going to…

Kelly: …to eat more of this!

Kelly grabbed some of the cold cuts and started eating them.

"Wow," said Daisy, "Michael, your sister's so sweet…and hungry."

"You're definitely seeing the real her," said Michael, sarcastically.

"OK, let the games begin." Daniella picked out a paper slip and unfolded it and read it. "Oh, this is a good one." She thought and then looked at Benny. "I'm ready."

Benny turned over the miniature hourglass the game supplied.

Daniella held up two fingers.

"Two words," Daisy said.

One finger.

"First word."

One finger.

"One syllable."

Daniella touched her nose. "You got it." She squealed.

"What—who wrote down 'one syllable'?" asked Ace.

"I did!" said Jack.

Duck groaned. "You're supposed to write titles!"

"I blanked!"

"Doesn't that make you furious, Duck?" asked Michael, "Don't you just wanna…" He pushed the table closer to him. "…throw a table?"

"I'm sure there's a book out there somewhere called 'one syllable'," Tech threw in.

"Right!" Duck concurred, "Good guess, Daisy." He turned back to Michael. "She smart and pretty, just like your mother and aunts."

"Oh, this the best game night ever!" Sophie squealed.

Kelly: I'll go next. Get it over with.

She grabbed a slip and walked over to the railing.

Ryan: See, now you're chasing off Daisy.

Kelly: No, I meant that. I wanna get this over with.

She looked at the paper.

Kelly: Got it!

She held up a hand and started spinning her fist next to it.

"Movie!" Duck cried.

She nodded and held up three fingers.

"Three words," said Lucy.

She pointed to her foot.

"Foot," said Benny.

She waved her hand to say "keep going."

"Sock!"

"Shoe!"

"Bunion!" They all looked at Jack. "What?"

She patted her heel.

"Heel…ball of your foot!"

She started pushing her hands together.

Jack stood up slightly. "Calluses! Bunions! Ball-of-foot! That's three words!"

Kelly: OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! IT'S FOOTBALL!

Duck got it. "Movie. Football. Three words. _Friday Night Lights_!"

Kelly: Yes, you got it!

Lexi got up. "Wait a minute! She talked! You heard her! She cheated! She's disqualified!"

Kelly: Good, I'm out of here!

Wendy stopped her. "Kelly, you are not disqualified, he got that fair and square! Daniella is stacking the teams against us!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Michael cheered, quietly.

"You heard her!" Ace said, "She cheated!"

"And I'm livid!" Michael cried, jumping up from his seat, "You know what? They should both be disqualified and out of here!"

"Great, we're losing the fight again!" Jack cried.

"WE ARE NOT FIGHTING!" Daniella cried, "That's the one thing we're not doing: we're not fighting. So stop fighting!"

"Yeah, the neighbors can hear us!" Nadine added.

Sarah groaned. "This is why I convinced Lexi to get rid of that game!"

"That's it! I'm calling the cops!"

Duck started waving his hands around, silently angry.

"_Karate Kid_!" Jack cried.

"WE ARE NOT FIGHTING!" Duck cried, "We're trying to make a good impression!"

"And failing miserably!" Daisy cried, "I'm telling you straight up, right here, right now, that I am—"

"Da-ta!" Ryan's body came up.

Kelly: OH NO!

"Lollipop!" Ryan's body walked over to her.

"Kelly, what did you do to your brother?" asked Tech.

Kelly: Nothing! See? This is why we should've tied you up.

Ryan-in-Kelly: That's a great idea! Someone should've tied you up!

She then realized she was pointing at Daisy and pulled her hand away.

"You family needs to calm down!" Daisy told Michael.

"Ah, they're good," said Michael.

"You call this 'normal'?"

"Yes! You should get used to it now that we're in this relationship—"

"Oh no! I am in _WAY_ over my head with this toxic family dynamic—next time you meet a girl, Michael, do not bring her home!" She ran away.

Michael rejoiced.

"Great, you see what you just did?" asked Sophie, "You just scared away Michael's new girlfriend!"

"That's what I wanted!" Michael cried, "She was never my girlfriend!"

Sophie looked at him. "What?! Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were gonna pull out the welcome wagon like we were having tea with the queen?"

"Lexi heard you invite her over. We assumed you really liked her."

"Next time, tell me that!"

Ryan-in-Kelly: Hello! I'm crammed inside my sister's head while my body is walking around like some Loony Toon!

"Right! We need a spell for that!" Daniella called forth her spell book and flipped the pages a little. "Aha! 'Please, brain, leave, brain.'"

Kelly: Oh, really? It's just that easy?

Ryan-in-Kelly: And polite. No wonder you couldn't figure out the spell.

"We need to get these two separated now!" Wendy said. She pulled out her wand. "_Please, brain, leave, brain_."

The two brains pulled out of Kelly, separated, and went back into their rightful places.

"Oh, I'm back," said Ryan, "It's so much better now."

"You're telling me," said Kelly, "Every time I was looking at my eyes, your brain kept leaning in going 'Let me see! Let me see!'"

"I don't wanna look in your brain!" Ryan snapped, "There's a lot of scary stuff in there!"

"Half-Vampire here. Can't really help it. Don't make me bite you." She walked off.

"Glad to know things are back to normal," said Wendy, zapping the game away.

_Now…_

"Wow…" said Brenda.

"Yeah," said Austin.

"Uh-huh," said Kelly.

Ryan just nodded.

Michael groaned. "I hate that girl to this day."

"You know, I hear she ended up in a mental facility," said Benny.

"You mean where Kelly belongs?" asked Ryan.

Kelly glared at him. "I do not!"

"You're always causing more trouble than you fix! Remember that one time you 'accidentally' wished I didn't exist?"

"Don't you lie to me like that. It _was_ an accident and it only made people forget you. You still existed."

"What happened?" asked Brenda.

"Well, it all started last year, just before our 15th birthdays…" said Kelly.

_A year ago…_

The girls were all in the same history class.

The teacher walked in. "Alright, my little 'junior historians', it's time for an oral pop quiz."

"Oh, my," said Sarah, sarcastically, "it's the 'surprise' Thursday oral pop quiz we have every Thursday. I'm totally caught off-guard."

Lucy giggled. Nadine and Kelly just smiled.

"In no particular order…" The teacher scanned the crowd. "…Woody Chuck. You're up."

A male woodchuck stood up.

"The French and Indian War was fought by three groups of people. Name two of them."

Woody thought. "Uh…the French was one for sure…the other one…I'm just gonna guess. Indians?"

"Correct!" The teacher held up a triangle and pinged it excitedly.

Woody cheered and sat back down.

"Renee Riddick, you're up."

A brunette girl stood up.

"The War of 1812 started in what year?"

"Oh! I studied for this one! …uh… 1812?"

"Yeah!" Triangle.

Renee sat down.

"Kelly Coyote."

Kelly sighed and got up.

"The Monroe Doctrine. What was it? When was it passed? And please give a two-minute argument defending it."

Kelly stared at him. "What? The last two questions had the answers in them. My question is supposed to be 'The Monroe Doctrine. Who's doctrine was it?' I'd say President Monroe and you'd say 'Yahoo! Good job!' and ring the triangle."

The teacher looked at her. "Oh, Kelly, you are so unlike your brother, Ryan."

"I know. I'm actually fun to hang out with."

"Just sit down!"

Kelly sat down. "I can't believe he's comparing me to Ryan."

"I know," said Nadine, "it must be really hard to live up to him."

"You have no idea. It's like everyone wants to make him President."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Wow," said Brenda, "Ryan's a show-off, a know-it-all, _and_ a spotlight hogger?"

"I am not!" Ryan snapped, "I'm just naturally smart having inherited Dad's brain and Kelly didn't get so much of it."

Kelly glared at him and thumped him in the back of the head. "That kind of attitude is exactly what got me to do what I did later that day…"

_A year ago…_

"So how was school today?" Daniella asked as the gang gathered together for a magic lesson.

"Wait!" Sophie jumped in, "Let me guess who got in trouble…" She looked back and forth between all the kids and then glared at Kelly with her arms crossed.

Ryan laughed and applauded.

"Well," said Kelly, "I got a hard quiz question because of Ryan, got in trouble because of Ryan, and got recruited by the math team because of Ryan!" She stormed over to the other side of the room.

Sophie looked at her son. "What are you smiling about?"

Ryan smirked. "I have had a much more productive day than I realized!"

Kelly threw her backpack at him, hitting him in the head and knocking him to the floor.

Sophie helped him up. "Moving on! Danni!"

"OK…" Daniella set something down on the table. They couldn't see what it was because she had a cloth over it. "Today's lesson is about…" She took off the cloth to reveal a lamp. "Genies!"

"Oh, I know a Genie," said Jack, "Jeannie Kowalski." They all looked at him. "Jeannie's do _not_ like it when you flick them in the ear. That's lesson #1."

"No," said Wendy, "lesson #1 is 'Stay away from that girl. She's bigger than you.' And lesson #2 is about Genies that live in a lamp, the con artists of the magic world."

"'Con artists'?" asked Lucy, "I thought they were supposed to give you three wishes."

"They do," Ryan explained, "but they twist your words around and turn your wish into something you wish you never wished for."

"Is Kelly a Genie?" Jack asked.

Ryan had to stifle his laughter at that one.

"No, she's your cousin," said Wendy, "But good, you understand the concept."

"Relax, no Genie can trick me," said Kelly, "I'd be able to make them wish they'd never met me."

"You don't have to be a Genie to wish you never met you," said Ryan.

"So are we gonna take the Genie out or what?" asked Michael.

"HA-JA-GA-GA!" Ryan snatched it. "You never take a Genie out of the lamp! It's too hard to get them back in!"

"Wait, so we're getting a Genie lesson without seeing the Genie?" asked Robert.

Wendy imitated a buzzer. "We're gonna see the Genie. 'Cause the Genie's not coming out of the lamp, we're going _into_ the lamp." She pulled them all together and joined their hands. "_Make us small and teeny-weeny, take us in to see the Genie_." They were all zapped into the lamp.

They appeared inside the lamp and dropped onto some furniture that seemed normal-sized.

"It's like a house in here," said Sarah, "These Genies know how to decorate. Where is the Genie?"

Just then, a blonde young woman in Mediterranean clothes walked into the room carrying a tray loaded in tea, cookies, and finger sandwiches. She smiled when she saw them. "Oh, Christmas carolers!" They all looked at her. "It's a little early…but who doesn't love a little _Jingle Bell Rock_? Hit it, boys! A 1, 2, a 1, 2, 3, 4—"

"Uh, hi!" Lexi jumped in, "We're not Christmas carolers. These kids are Witches- and Warlocks-in-training and they're in a lesson about Genies so…ta-da."

"Oh," said the Genie, "wow. I wasn't expecting company. I don't have enough food…" She then remembered the tray she was carrying and threw it aside.

_BANG! CRASH! MROW!_

The Genie smiled. "…to make dinner for all of us. _But_, I know this pizzeria in uptown—everybody loves pizza, right?—that has a topping bar!"

"A topping bar?" asked Kelly.

"How's that for a topper?"

"Sounds great, let's go." Kelly took her hands.

"Let's."

"We are now small and teeny-weeny but instead—" Tech covered her mouth.

"See that?" Ryan commented, "She thought a Genie couldn't outsmart her and then almost set her free."

Kelly glared at him. "Tell me you didn't notice that that was the wrong words for the spell or that I was moving my foot to stomp on her toes?"

"Doesn't matter!" Daniella hissed, pulling her off to the side, "This is why we brought you here: to show you how tricky Genies can be."

"Right!" the Genie jumped in, "Genies are very sneaky. Why don't we talk about it over some milkshakes, shall we? There's this place on 86th and Western that makes hot fudge sundae and banana split milkshakes."

"Wow, that sounds good!" Kelly said, "Why don't you go get your jacket and we'll go?"

"Yes!" The Genie ran into the next room.

"You see?" Kelly said, "I just outsmarted the Genie. Let's go!"

"Hahsfsohhg pizza!" Slam said.

"And hot fudge sundae milkshakes," said Duck, "Take us out!"

Ryan did the spell. "_We are now small and teeny-weeny, we are done visiting the Genie_." They all disappeared.

_The next morning…_

Kelly brought her stuff into the history classroom. She was the first one there, even the teacher wasn't in the room. She put down her backpack and pulled the Genie lamp out of it and rubbed it.

The Genie appeared, holding a plunger and a viper. "Oh, it's you! I was just in the middle of snaking my drain." She nodded and the plunger and viper disappeared. "Alright." She walked over to Kelly. "Thank you for freeing me from my lamp. Your wish is my command. You're entitled to three wishes. Blah, blah, blah. Not valid in Acme Vermont or Acme Connecticut."

Kelly half-smiled. "Alright. I wish everyone would stop comparing me to Ryan."

"Oh, your brother! He seems really smart. I'm glad he's not my brother. I could never live in that shadow—"

"That's what I'm talking about! Let's get to the wish!"

"OK…" She started dancing.

"Isn't that the Macarena?"

The Genie finished dancing and clapped her hands. "Yeah, they stole it from us." A scoreboard appeared labeled "Wish Tote" with the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on it. 1 turned over and was crossed out. The scoreboard disappeared. "OK, you're good. You will no longer be compared to your brother. So…I bet you've heard about how Genies are always trying to sneak away."

"You can't sneak away if I'm letting you go."

"You're letting me go?"

"Yeah. Sure. Get out. I got my wish."

The bell rang.

"Hurry up! Class is starting!"

The Genie raced out. "Thank you!"

"No, thank you." Kelly grabbed her backpack and sat down while the rest of the class filed in.

The teacher came in. "Alright, everyone. Time for another Thursday oral pop quiz…on Friday." They all looked at him. "Kelly Coyote."

Kelly groaned. "Here we go." She stood up.

"Name two of the three people who were on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which also featured Sacagawea."

Kelly looked at him. "Did you just give me all three answers?"

"No fair. I'm not giving hints."

Kelly smiled. "Well then, I'm gonna say Lewis and Clark _and_ Sacagawea."

"Wow! Three out of three! And I only asked for two! I think we have a winner!" He picked up the triangle, but didn't ring it. "You know what? Let's let Kelly ring the triangle."

Kelly took it. "Is there someone you wanna compare me to?"

"No."

"Thank you, Genie!" She rang the triangle triumphantly.

_20 minutes later…_

Kelly walked through the halls to her locker, followed by Nadine, Lucy, and Sarah. "Can you believe it? He didn't ask me some insane question that only Ryan or Dad would know the answer to!"

"Who's Ryan?" asked Lucy.

Kelly stopped walking as she reached her locker and turned to look at Lucy. "What do you mean who's Ryan?" She then saw her brother coming. "Hey, Rye!"

"Kelly!" Ryan walked up to them. "The weirdest thing just happened in biology. I got kicked out because I wasn't on the class list. I told Mrs. Reader it had to be a mistake since I'd been there all semester, but she still didn't remember me."

"Wow, that is weird."

"I know. You'd think she'd remember the kid you came up with the song for the periodic table of elements: _Hydrogen, then helium, lithium, beryllium, boron _-"

"Speaking of boron, why don't you go hang out with your friends?"

Ryan started to say something, then sighed and walked off.

"That's Ryan?" asked Nadine, "Wow, he's kind of cute."

"No, he's my brother," said Kelly, turning to open her locker, "He skipped right over 'cute' on the guy chart and went straight to 'dorky'."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sarah, "We just have two brothers: Michael and TJ."

Kelly then realized what was going on. "Oh no." She turned to the girls. "Can you go save me a seat in the cafeteria?"

"Fine, but I call dibs on that new guy," said Nadine.

"Dibs acknowledged," said Kelly, pushing her away. She raced over to Ryan, who was now talking to his old nerd friends.

"We were playing video games together yesterday!" Ryan was trying to jog one guy's memory, "I got overexcited and hyperventilated. Your mom had to get me a bag!"

"Sorry, dude, good luck with whatever." The boy walked off, followed by the others.

Ryan was trying to reason this out. "I have no friends…my teacher doesn't recognize me…" He grabbed Kelly. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Kelly glared at him. "What?! Just because something completely out of the ordinary happens doesn't mean I automatically have something to do with it—"

"Did you have something to do with it?"

"Yes!"

Ryan groaned and started pacing.

"I made a wish with the Genie that everyone would stop comparing me to you, but I guess she did that by making everyone forget you."

"Well, you tell that Genie that you wish everyone would remember me again!"

"I can't! I let her go. That way she couldn't sneak off!"

"Oh, I get it. It's kind of like giving a burglar your money so he doesn't steal it!"

Kelly glared at him. "What do you want me to do?"

"You've done enough! We're gonna have to get Aunt Danni to help us."

_A couple hours later…_

Daniella shook Ryan's hand. "Hi, I'm Kelly's mom's sister, Daniella." She walked off.

Ryan stared after her. "We've already met!" He turned to Kelly.

"I don't think Aunt Danni's gonna help us," said Kelly.

Sophie walked up to Kelly. "Hey, who's your new friend? He kind of looks like your uncle Patrick." She walked off.

Ryan looked at Kelly. "It's not just school, no one remembers me!"

Kelly tried to think of what to say. "Look on the bright side! I'll bet you don't have to do dishes tonight!"


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Brenda looked at Austin. "Help me."

"I got nothing."

The boat horn honked.

"We're gonna dock in a little while," said Kelly, "Let's wrap this up…"

_A year ago…_

Ryan was repeatedly banging his head against the wall in the lobby of the tower.

"OK, Ryan," said Kelly, "I know this looks bad. No one remembers you. But I'll fix it. In the meantime, think of all the benefits."

Ryan turned around to look at her. "You mean like not having to do the dishes? I'd trade that for my parents remembering me! Where am I supposed to sleep tonight?"

Kelly thought about that. "I fell asleep on the bench on the sidewalk outside one night. It's pretty comfortable."

Ryan turned back around and kept banging his head on the wall.

"OK! Follow my lead." She pulled him over to the others. "Guys! Ryan's parents are out of town and he doesn't have a place to stay because he lost his house key when he tripped on the sidewalk and it fell down the sewer grate."

"Wow," said Wendy.

"Well, you're more than welcome to stay here," said Lexi.

"Right," Kelly said, taking Ryan back off to the side, "See? Problem solved!"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Everything's great. It's just that my parents don't know who I am!"

Kelly glared at him. "You find a problem with everything, don't you?" He glared at her. "They can't forget you. You're their eldest son." She thought of something and snapped her fingers. "Maybe we can jog their memory."

"Worth a shot." He walked over to Tech and Sophie. "Uh, Mr. and Mrs. Coyote." They looked at him. "Since I'm going to be staying with you, it'd be rude if I didn't let you get to know me."

Sophie smiled. "So tell us about yourself."

Kelly put her hand around her brother. "Well, Ryan loves school."

"'Loves' school?" asked Tech, "We don't hear that enough around here." Sophie laughed.

Ryan then saw Duck coming. "And I love watching sports with my uncle. Go Rangers!"

"Oh, a Rangers fan!" Duck jumped at Ryan. "Razeroids or Manglers?"

Ryan smiled. "Razeroids."

"There it is! Welcome to the family, Ryan."

Wendy cornered Kelly. "Ryan is a nice catch. You should go out with him."

Kelly looked at her, disgusted. "Ew, gross!"

"That's what I first thought when I started going out with Duck, and now he's my Snuggly Duckling."

"Ew, gross_er_!"

Wendy walked off.

"Ryan's a fine young man," said Tech, "You should me more like him."

Kelly groaned and stormed over to Ryan. "Even when they don't know you, they want me to be more like you!"

"Can't wish away quality." Ryan walked off.

_That night…_

Kelly was alone with Ryan in the living room, setting up the couch for him to sleep on.

"OK, how are you gonna get the Genie back?" asked Ryan.

"I don't know, I've just been racking my brain. I wish the Genie would just show up."

Just then, the Genie showed up.

"What just happened?" asked Kelly.

"You wished the Genie would come back and she came back!" Ryan said.

The Wish Tote reappeared and 2 was knocked out.

"And stumbling on that," said the Genie, "you just used your second wish."

"OK, Kelly," said Ryan, "you only have one wish, choose your words carefully."

"I know, I know," said Kelly, "I wish you'd stop telling me—oh! That's not it! That's not it. We're gonna get this right. I wish people would—no, no, no! No. I wish Ryan would—no, no, no! You'll wreck that. I wish everyone—I wish my first wish—I wish my brother—"

"Oh, this is gonna be good!" the Genie said, sitting down.

"Oh, I got it!"

"Wait!" Ryan intercepted, pulling her aside, "Let me hear it."

"Alright…"

Neither noticed the Genie leaning in to listen in.

"'I wish everyone would see Ryan clearly for who he is.'"

The Genie started dancing.

"Wait!" Ryan said, "There could be a problem if you say the word…" He disappeared, leaving his clothes in his place. "…'clearly'!"

The Wish Tote knocked out 3.

"And that's my triple play!" said the Genie, "Thanks for rubbing my lamp. It's yours to keep. In fact, go ahead and take out my stuff and use it as a gravy boat. Just remember, it's not dishwasher safe. You know what? Throw it in the dishwasher, I don't really care." She left.

"Kelly, look what you've done!" Ryan's voice came from where his clothes were standing, "You've ruined my life!"

"Hold on, you're invisible! Isn't there someone you always wanted to get back at, but now they'd never know since you're invisible?"

Ryan thumped her. "There."

"OK, I had that coming."

"Now fix this!"

"Hey, you kids want some ice cream?"

"It's getting a little late, Duck!"

Upon hearing those voices, Ryan started to take his pants off.

"What are you doing?!" Kelly asked.

"This way I'll be totally invisible!"

"Ew, no! Just hide!"

He started to take his shirt off as he slunk behind the counter. "Don't look!"

Kelly turned away.

Tech came in with Duck. "Hey, where's Ryan?"

"Bathroom," Kelly instantly answered.

"Well," said Duck, "I love talking sports with him and your dad here is no different with the tech talk."

"Well, I guess we can always just wait here," said Tech, starting to sit in a chair.

"No! Don't sit there!" Kelly cried.

Tech stood up. "What? Why not?"

"Because…I'm gonna sit there." Kelly waved her hand over the chair to make sure Ryan wasn't there and then sat down. "I like sitting here."

Tech and Duck looked at each other, but just proceeded to sit on the couch…to which Tech promptly jumped back up, followed by Duck.

"What just happened?!" Tech cried. He then noticed something else weird… "And why is there a pillow floating in midair?"

Duck and Kelly also looked. Ryan was holding a pillow up.

Kelly looked at her father. "Ryan is invisible and not wearing any clothes?"

The others walked in.

"What was that yelping noise?" asked Lexi.

"I just sat on Kelly's invisible friend, Ryan?" Tech tried to figure out the situation.

Sophie looked and her eyes widened as she saw Ryan standing there invisible with the pillow. "Ryan, what happened to you?"

"I don't know," said Daniella, "but I'm sure there's a perfectly logical, NON-MAGIC, _scientific_ explanation for all—"

"Aunt Danni!" Kelly interrupted, "Ryan's a Warlock! He knows about magic!"

"Oh. Good. WHAT'D YOU DO?!"

"I—"

"Wait," Lexi stopped them, "is he using that pillow to…? Oh, that's my good pillow!"

"Yeah," said Wendy, "and since it's the only thing I can see, I don't really feel comfortable talking to it."

"Just talk to the hand." Ryan picked up a hand sculpture and held it up.

Nadine looked at Kelly. "What did you do to him?"

Kelly sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you'll never believe me!"

"Have you seen the other things that tend to happen around here?" asked Tech, "Of course we'll believe you!"

"Ryan is my little brother and you're eldest son."

"I don't believe you."

"No, it's true! I made a wish with a Genie that everyone would stop comparing me to Ryan but she conned me and made everyone forget him and then turned him invisible!"

"She's telling the truth!" Ryan jumped in. They all looked at him. He bobbed the hand up and down as if nodding.

Sophie sighed. "Are you trying to tell me I have a son I don't even know about?"

"Please, you have to believe me!" Kelly cried, halfway to tears, "I used up all my wishes, the Genie was too smart for me!"

Daniella sighed. "Genies are sneaky."

"You have to help me. We can't just leave him like this! He may be dorky and annoying, but he's fun and smart and helpful and he's my brother, I need him back!"

Sophie smiled. "Kelly, I…I think I believe you. You really love your brother, don't you?"

"And you love him, too."

"And sometimes more than her!" Ryan added.

Kelly glared at him. "I'm trying to help you here." She turned back to her family. "We have to do something."

"Look, I believe you, too," said Tech, "But if you used up all your wishes, what else can we do?" He sat down on the couch.

Kelly looked at her invisible brother, sadly. "Ryan, I'm sorry."

"But I'm happy," Sophie jumped in, smiling at him, "I have another son! Come give me a hug…uh, but go put some clothes on first."

"I'll be right back." Ryan put down the pillow and sculpture, grabbed his pajamas, and walked off to the bathroom.

"Wow," said Jack, "that was one of the weirdest experiences of my life."

"We've been through worse," Kelly said. Then she thought of something. "Wait. That's it! The Genie may have outsmarted us, but maybe we can out-dumb her! Jack!"

"Oh, sure, come to me!"

Kelly glared at him. "This is serious. How would you get a Genie to come back to her lamp?"

Jack thought about that. "Oh, I know, orange soda."

Kelly looked at him. "What?"

"If someone spilled orange soda in my room, I'd be really mad—"

"You spilled orange soda in your room, didn't you?" asked Wendy, "What'd we say about taking that in there?" She stormed off.

"See?" said Jack, "She's really mad and she's going to my room."

Kelly looked at him for a few more seconds and then sighed and went to get the lamp from her backpack.

Slam, meanwhile, got a can of orange soda from the fridge and shook it a little.

Kelly laid the lamp on the table.

Slam opened the can and started pouring the soda in the lamp.

"Is it working?" asked Kelly, "Is it working? It's not working!"

About then, the Genie showed up. "What are you doing? That's my house!"

"Told you," said Jack, "Nothing drives the ladies insane like orange soda."

The Genie looked at him.

Kelly took the lamp and started shaking it. "I'll stop shaking it if you give one of us a wish. It's just gonna get foamier in here!"

The Genie groaned. "Fine!" She smacked Jack. "You! What do you want?"

Jack thought about that. "I wish for this haircut and a shirt like this."

"I can't give you a wish you already have!"

"I thought these were rule-free wishes!"

"They are, but…oh, what game are you playing?"

"Oh, yeah? I wish for the Genie game."

"What Genie game? What are you trying to pull?"

"Oh, you know what I'm trying to pull!"

"Well, it sounds like you wanna know about the reset button." She then realized what she'd said.

"Jack!" Kelly said, "There's a reset button! Now you know what to wish for!"

"A swimming pool of pudding?!"

Kelly glared at him. "No! The reset button!"

Jack turned back to the Genie. "I wish you'd show us the reset button."

"In your lamp!" Kelly quickly added.

"In your lamp!"

Daniella leaned in. "If there's a reset button, we're gonna need this paper clip." She handed a paper clip to Jack.

The Genie zapped them into the lamp…which was now a foamy orange soda pool.

"We really should've thought this plan through," said Lexi.

Benny started drinking it. "Ooh, orangey!"

Ace stopped him. "Where's Jack?"

Jack came out of the orange soda pool, holding up a giant paper clip with his telekinesis. "I got it!"

"Alright." The Genie pulled back a curtain to reveal a reset button. "Here it is. When you press it, it undoes all the wishes since the last freeing, as if they never happened."

Jack used his telekinesis and sent the paper clip towards the button. He leaned it in and carefully hit the tiny button.

_Whoosh! _*someone talking backwards* _Beep-beep!_

Everyone except the Genie reappeared in the living room.

"Wow, that was close," said Ryan.

"You're back!" said Kelly, hugging him, "Oh, I'm so glad I can see you!"

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry I forgot you!" Sophie said, pushing Kelly off and squeezing him.

"What kind of mother forgets her own kid?" asked Duck.

Sophie glared at him. "What about Tech?"

"I'm a dad!" Tech answered, "Before noon, I'm lucky to remember one of these kids." Sophie glared at him. "Come on, Mikey, bedtime." He led them all off.

"So," said Ryan, "you were pretty upset about me, weren't you?"

Kelly scoffed. "Got that right."

"You know what I mean. You were scared."

"I was not! I was just…worried I was gonna bump into you all the time."

Ryan scoffed. "Yeah, right." He imitated a girl crying. "'I need my brother back. I need my brother back. WAH! WAH!'"

"Yeah, and I'm glad you're back. 'Cause now I can do this!" She grabbed a pillow and smacked him with it, knocking him onto the couch.

"'I miss my'—OH!—'I miss my brother!'"

Kelly slammed the pillow onto his stomach and sat on him.

_Now…_

Brenda shook her head. "Just like you two."

The boat horn rang again.

"We're going into port. Come on." Brenda grabbed their stuff.

"Now, see," said Ryan, "it's misuse of magic like that that almost gave away our secret to Uncle Rip."

"What?" asked Brenda, "What happened?"

"Well," said Daniella, "it all started on our last birthday—I mean, we have a birthday every month in Anasalan time, but this was the official one—anyway…"

_Eight month ago…_

Tech was pacing. "Where is Jack? We have to start this meeting."

"My money's on 'stuck in a well,'" said Robert.

"Why would Jack be stuck in a well?" asked Michael.

"Because I put a well in his room."

Jack then walked into the lobby, carrying a bucket. "Sorry I'm late. I got stuck in a well."

Robert smiled.

"And now, I don't have to leave my room to get a drink of water again!" Jack started drinking out of the bucket.

Ace snatched it. "Kelly, go get rid of that well."

"Robert's the one who put it in there!" Kelly reminded him.

"True, but you did give me the idea," said Robert.

"When did I tell you to put a well in Jack's room?"

"You didn't. Your exact words were 'wouldn't it be nice if Jack were stuck in a well?'"

"I attest," said Sarah.

Kelly sighed. "Fine." She took the bucket and went to get rid of the well.

"OK," said Tech as soon as she was gone, "tomorrow is the triplets' birthday and we need to discuss what we're gonna do."

"Well, whatever it is, it can't be magic or magic-related," said Lexi, "They seem to like to keep magic out of this world." She opened a paneling in the wall. "I mean, there's this whole case of presents to all of us from their uncle Skeeter and they wouldn't let any of us open any of them."

"Does Kelly know about that case?" asked Sarah.

"HA-JA-GA-GA!" Ryan cried, blocking the case, "Kelly is not gonna find out about this case! She thinks they're educational toys. No one is gonna tell her about these shelves!"

"Relax, we don't have to worry about your uncle Skeeter's gift this year," said Benny, "He sent a letter saying he's not coming to dinner."

"Uncle Skeeter's not coming to dinner?" asked Michael, "That's my gift! I called it!"


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The gang settled down in the living room of HQ.

"Oh, it's good to be home," said Kelly.

"Uh, back to the story," said Brenda, "What happened at the triplets' birthday?"

"Well…"

_Eight months ago…_

The triplets were in the lobby.

Everyone came up to them.

"Hey, Mom!" Michael cried, "Guess what? I have a little pre-birthday present for you: Uncle Skeeter isn't coming to dinner this year. It's just gonna be the 27 of us."

"In other words, it'll be exactly like usual," said Sophie, "Do we have to cook it, too?"

"I'll do it," said Sarah, "That's _my_ present."

Sophie scoffed and walked off.

"Why don't we just invite over our mortal family or some of the rest of your cousins?" asked Kelly.

"Because if we invite anyone from our family," said Daniella, "this tower will fall apart. And if we invite anyone from your fathers' sides of the family, things will get…well, out-of-hand is an understatement."

"Can we at least invite over Uncle Rip?" asked Robert.

"Yeah, he always has those interesting stories and stuff," said Kelly, "about his travels being an executive of Runner Enterprises. I'm sure he'd be OK coming over."

"Hey, we have stories!" said Tech, "Did we ever tell you about—"

"Yes," all the kids said.

"Or that one time that—"

"Yes!"

"But what about when we—"

"YES!"

Duck quacked over. "What about me? You remember that time I almost hit the rat on the suspension bridge? I was like…" He imitated holding a steering wheel and swerving to the right. "'Whoa!'"

"I'll never forget that one time Uncle Rip took me to that Rangers game," said Jack, "He caught that foul ball and gave it to me."

"That was when you were 5," said Lucy, "Why don't you get another story about some grown-up who likes you?"

"Come on, Mom, I think we can understand," said Kelly, "Are you embarrassed of us?"

Sophie looked at her. Then at Jack, then at Ryan, then at Duck, then Rev, then Tech, then at the group as a whole, and then back at Kelly. "No, honey, I numbed out 'embarrassed' long, long ago."

"Then what is it?" asked Ryan.

"Yeah, we used to have so much fun with Uncle Rip," said Jack.

"Yeah, before you knew about your powers," said Daniella, "Remember the next time he took you to a Rangers game? You used your telekinesis to send every foul ball headed straight to you! After that, we can't risk him finding out about magic!"

Rev sped over to her. "So-what-are-we-gonna-ignore-my-brother-forever? Come-on! He's-my-brother-and-I-never-get-to-see-him-because-of-stinking-magic!"

Daniella sighed. "Look, Rev, I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep you guys from your family or anything, it's just that… Listen, I have thought about inviting the mortal side of the family over so many times. But you guys are way too careless with your powers!"

"OK, what about this?" Kelly proposed, "What if we promised that if you invite over Uncle Rip that it would be a magic-free evening?"

Daniella started laughing. "Nice try! You guys could never pull that off."

"He knows we're the Loonakids, he just doesn't know about magic. If we can refrain from using _all_ of our powers, than we're in the clear."

"Oh, come on," said Wendy, "I, for one, would love to have Rip over, but you guys can't go 10 minutes without using magic!"

"Aunt Wendy," said Kelly, "that's not true. You're the one who has that problem. _I_ have been holding back from using magic all day. You don't think I wanna turn Ryan's ugly shirt into something uglier?"

Ryan crossed his arms. "You don't think I wanna put a zipper on Kelly's face?"

"You promise?" asked Sophie.

"We promise!" said Kelly, "No magic!"

"No magic!" said Ryan.

"Promise," said Sarah.

Michael, Robert, and Jack all nodded.

Daniella smiled. "Then I guess we can have Rip over."

"Alright, 'yay' for family!" Kelly said, dropping onto the couch excitedly, smiling.

_The next day…_

Sarah was making a giant cake. Once she got out one big layer and frosted it, she laid it on top of an ever bigger layer and then put a medium layer in the oven and set to work on the smallest layer.

"Oh, Sarah, honey," said Sophie, "You don't have to go to such extremes for our birthday cake. I'd be just as happy with a candle and a cupcake."

"Hiahfoashos cake!" said Slam.

Sarah smiled. "It's OK, Mom, I'm fine doing the work."

Nadine walked in, holding up a couple outfits. "OK, which one: fireworks or cake?"

"Lghgshgj cake!" said Slam.

Nadine nodded, laid out the fireworks outfit on the couch, and went to change into the cake outfit.

Kelly walked in. "Alright. The wands are in the conference room, the well is gone, we are in a magic-free zone. Happy birthday, Mom." She hugged Sophie.

"Thanks, honey," said Sophie, "This is gonna be the best birthday ever! And I had a lot of birthdays! Oh, wait, I hope I didn't just jinx it."

The doorbell rang.

"I'll-get-it!" Rev raced downstairs.

"OK, whatever you guys do," said Ryan, "do not use magic!"

"Yes, Ryan, why don't you say it louder?" Kelly mocked.

Rev came back then with Rip. "Rip's-here-Rip's-here!"

"Hey!" Rip laid down his stuff and hugged Robert. "And my sisters-in-law!"

"Hey, Rip," Daniella said, hugging him, "Long time, no see. Man, you haven't changed a bit. You look great."

"I know! And you still look like you're 27-years-old."

"I know!"

Rip looked around. "What? Am I the only one here? Where's everybody else?"

Wendy jumped in. "Well, uh, I guess that when we invited you over and you said you'd come, we got so excited that we forgot to invite everybody else! Duck?"

Duck quacked over. "How've you been, Rip?"

"Great. I recently went down to Acme Mexico. And while I was there, I helped rescue the President of Mexico's cat. So…" He pulled out a giant golden key. "…they gave me the key to the country."

Kelly took it, smiling. "Wow, now we can get into Acme Mexico! Even when it's closed and on the weekends!"

Rip took it back. "Alright, I was just kidding about the key. But I did save the cat. And as a reward, they gave me a job: head of security…for the cat."

"Oh," said Michael, "so that would make you…a cat-sitter?"

Rip looked at him for a few seconds. "Kelly! You look wonderful. You look like a grown-up young lady."

"Aw…see that, guys? It's possible to say that without being sarcastic."

Rip turned to Ryan. "And Ryan, man, you're growing fast. Pretty soon, you're gonna be taller than me."

Ryan looked at him up and down. "I-I _am_ taller than you, Uncle Rip."

"I'm not counting the ears."

Ryan bent down his ears and saw that he was still an inch taller.

"Alright, fine. But if your mother's 27, then I'm taller than you."

Sarah smiled, putting down her cake.

"And I know it's your mothers' birthday, but I still got you a little something…" Rip picked up a bag and handed it to the kids.

Nadine took out hers. It was a teddy bear purse.

Benny's was a bunch of books.

Lucy found several notebooks.

Robert got a pair of skates.

Kelly received a necklace.

Ryan pulled out a chemistry book.

Sarah took out a cookbook and a CD.

Michael shook the bag and let a stack of comic books come out.

"Wow, thanks, Uncle Rip," said Kelly.

"And for your mothers…" said Rip, taking out three presents.

Before they could open them, Jack came in with a present. "Hey, guys—Uncle Rip!"

"Hey, man! Oh, I got you something, too." He reached into a bag. "It's those shoes you wanted with the springs on the bottom. Remember you said you wanted to…" He pulled out a pair of tennis shoes with springs on the bottoms. "…jump to the moon?"

"Oh, thanks," said Jack, taking them, "But I really don't need them now, I've been to Mars." Everyone then realized what he'd said.

Rip looked at him. "'Mars'?"

"Uh…" Kelly jumped up. "He means he's been to a…a-a Mars-themed restaurant! Yeah, it was called, you know, T.M.I.…" She scoffed, unable to think of anything. "…Mars." Everyone looked at her. She sat back down.

"Right," said Jack, "but, uh, I was in here because Uncle Skeeter's gift just came in and I wanna know what to do with it!"

"Put it anywhere but here!" Wendy insisted without thinking. Rip looked at her. She forced out a nervous smile.

Kelly dragged Jack off.

"Uh, could you kids go watch them to make sure nothing goes wrong with them?" Daniella asked.

Nadine, Benny, Lucy, Robert, Ryan, and Michael all raced off.

"I better stay here and watch my cake!" Sarah called after them.

"Wow, your lives are weird," said Rip.

"You have no idea," Wendy mumbled.

"Yeah, I guess you could expect that when you have to deal with stuff like that alien thing."

"Right, I remember that," said Tech.

"Well, uh…" Duck jumped in, "I've slept on the roof. In the rain."

Rip looked at him. "Why would you do that?"

"In case I came across someone with a story like that so I could top it."

"Not topped," said Wendy. Duck looked at her. "Honey."

Rip sighed. "Well, if stuff like that is gonna happen to them, we should probably follow them."

"No, we can't!" Lexi stopped him, "Because…"

"Because…" Ace said, "…we have to move the furniture like Wendy always wanted. Happy birthday!"

"Yeah, it's what I've always wanted," said Wendy.

"I'll do it," said Duck, moving to move the chair. He grunted and pushed and pulled, but didn't get anywhere. "Rip, could you give me a hand?"

"Sure." Rip started clapping. "Yeah, Duck! Go, do it! You can move it!"

Wendy had to stifle a giggle.

"Just kidding. I've always wanted to do that. Topped." He started to help Duck move the stuff.

_Meanwhile…_

Kelly dragged Jack into the lobby. "Jack, we're trying to have a magic-free day. Don't bring Skeeter's crazy magic gift where Uncle Rip is."

"Sorry, I didn't know he was here already." He went to open the paneling. "Guess I'll just put it in the case with the others." He opened the paneling and then realized that he'd revealed the case to Kelly.

Kelly looked at the case. "'Others'?"

Jack looked at her, moving the present onto a shelf.

"Are you saying that that whole case is full of crazy magic gifts?"

"No…you said 'crazy magic gifts', I just said 'case'."

Kelly stormed over to him and thumped him. "I can't believe this! All these years I thought that Uncle Skeeter wasn't giving us presents and that all the stuff in the walls was educational toys. How come you didn't open this stuff?"

"Mom told me not to!"

"Since when do you listen to Aunt Wendy?" She pushed him out of the way and took a tiny box off of the case. She opened it and pulled out a tiny velvet box. "What's this? 'Party in a Box. Open it and turn any room into an instant party.' Well, I'm dying to do that."

Ryan came up, followed by the others. "What's going on?"

Kelly hid the box behind her back.

Benny cornered Jack. "You showed her the case, didn't you?"

"Yup."

Ryan went over to Kelly. "Forget about this, Kelly. We're supposed to be upstairs having nothing to do with magic and that's where we're going."

"Rye, there's this whole bookcase full of crazy magic gifts that nobody ever told me about and…ooh…" She grabbed a bigger box and started shaking it. "This one sounds like it's a time traveling pocket watch. You know you want it."

"No, I do not want that. Why would I want that? We're not supposed to be using magic. So let's go!"

Kelly started moving the box around. "Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock—"

"Kelly, that's not even how you do it! Give me that!" Ryan snatched it and opened it. "Oh." He put on the bag. "It's a magic Swiss shoulder bag. It has everything you need in it to survive—just like a Swiss army knife—including a mini-magic wand." He took it out and waved it. "It's just a toothpick."

"Alright, we're opening presents!" Jack took the present that they'd gotten today and opened it. He took it out and put it on the table. "What's this?"

"It's a toy chicken in a wire cage," said Nadine. She flipped a switch on it and it turned into a real chicken in a metal cage.

Ryan took a note from the cage. "'Fu-chicken.' Chicken that tells the future. 'Ask it any question about the future and when it lays its egg, the answer is inside the egg.'"

"Great," said Jack, "we can ask it anything."

"Hmm…" Kelly went over to it. "You remember when we were locked on the DreamScape? And Nisha told us we hadn't even begun? She must have meant that at least one of us would be important. And Joy had that vision that was supposed to come true in the next century." She leaned over and looked at the chicken. "What's gonna happen in the next 10 years that will change our lives? Maybe one of us is gonna save the world alone or…"

The chicken squawked.

"Perfect," said Ryan, "Now we just have to wait for it to lay the egg."

"I don't have that kind of time!" Jack scoffed. He opened the cage to grab the chicken. "Maybe I can squeeze it out of him." But before he could grab the chicken, it ran off.

"Get it! Get it! Get it!"

Everyone scrambled to grab the chicken.

Kelly was the only one to get close by the time he reached the stairs. She picked up a plate of eggs and bacon. "Oh, look at this."

Ryan looked at the note card. "'Please note: scaring the Fu-Chicken will cause it to lay various breakfasts, delaying the answer egg.'"

Lucy looked at them. "Well, then we better go catch that thing before he lays magic waffles in front of your uncle Rip! Come on!"

They all raced off.

Ryan laid the eggs and bacon on the table. "How'd it lay the plate?" He raced after the others.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"You're kidding me, right?" Austin asked the gang.

"No," said Kelly, "we knew something was gonna happen in the next 10 years that would change our lives. Whether or not it's what Joy saw was yet to be determined, but we still had to know."

"So what did the chicken say?" asked Brenda.

"Well…"

_Eight months ago…_

The kids raced into the living room. They avoided their parents and Slam and Rip and continued looking to find the Fu-Chicken.

Sarah stopped Ryan. "What's going on?"

"There's gifts from Uncle Skeeter we weren't supposed to open, but we did. Our mortal uncle is here so we're not supposed to be using magic and there's a magic chicken walking around the place and if you see waffles, don't ask where they came from, just enjoy them."

"Wait, people are eating waffles? I made cake."

Ryan sighed and walked off.

Sarah shrugged and went back to fixing her cake.

"You know," Sophie said, stopping her daughter, "it was Kelly's idea inviting you over, Rip."

"Oh, Mom," said Kelly, hugging her, "I'm not one to take credit…or blame…we're all one big happy family here. Let's just say that this was everybody's idea. You'll wanna remember that later."

Robert started gesturing to the hall incessantly.

Kelly looked at him.

He mouthed "magic chicken."

She got it and raced over there.

Rev noticed the strange behavior and pointed it out to Tech. "Uh-Rip-we've-gotta-go-check-something-out." He raced over to the kids.

Tech followed him and saw the chicken in the hall. "Why is there a chicken in the hallway?"

"Well," Kelly whispered in reply, "off the record, the chicken is gonna lay an egg that's gonna tell us all the important stuff that's gonna happen within the next 10 years. On the record, I don't—I—what chicken?"

Tech groaned.

"OK-look-I-got-an-idea-about-this-one-we-say-someone-found-a-chicken-on-the-streets-and-it-got-into-the-tower-I-mean-plenty-of-people-like-to-keep-chickens-so-they-don't-have-to-pay-for-eggs-or—"

The chicken then laid another breakfast.

"Plates-of-waffles-with fruit-salad?! We-can't-explain-that!"

"OK, OK, I'll get rid of it," Kelly whispered.

"Yeah," said Duck, quacking over there, having heard some of it with his "keen duck hearing", "and if you can just wrap up the waffles in some foil, you can just toss the fruit."

Kelly glared at him and pulled the kids down the hall towards the chicken.

They all started chasing after the chicken, trying to catch it. They finally gave up.

"And he still hasn't laid the answer egg," said Jack, eating the waffles, "It must be waiting right there in his chicken tail."

Nadine rolled her eyes. "OK, there's gotta be a way we can do this before Rip sees this thing."

"Wait, I've got an idea," said Kelly, "Jack, you distract the chicken and I'll catch him with…" She grabbed a box and sheet of faux glass. "…this box and sheet of glass."

"How are you gonna do that?" asked Ryan.

"It doesn't matter as long as we can save Mom's no-magic birthday."

"Fine. Jack, distract the chicken with your 'distract the chicken' dance."

Jack sighed. "I thought you'd never ask." He laid down the waffles and started doing a mix of the Macarena and the chicken dance.

Kelly was watching this distantly.

"Kelly!" Benny snapped.

Kelly snapped out of it. "Sorry. That was so good you distracted me." She put the box over the chicken and then carefully slid the sheet of glass under it and turned it over. She tossed the glass aside, carefully. "There. Magic chicken problem solved."

"Good," said Michael, "now let's all get back in there and act like nothing's going on."

"Or…" Kelly said, "Jack could watch the chicken until it lays the answer egg and we can all act like nothing's going on."

Jack took the box. "Fine."

They all ran off while Jack watched the chicken.

The adults were just doing stuff.

"Look how much fun they're having," said Robert, "Aren't you glad we didn't ruin it for them?"

"Right," said Kelly. She then noticed something. "It's not like Ryan's bag is glowing or anything."

"I know—my bag is glowing?" Ryan noticed this.

An Elf appeared from the bag. "Alright. I'm here to help."

Rip noticed him. "Uh…where did he come from?"

"Uh…this is a neighbor of ours," Tech started to explain, "He must have gotten a key and come to return it. I'll just go take care of that." He started to push the elf off.

Jack then ran through trying to catch the chicken, which had jumped out of the box. "Hey, get back here, you stinking chicken!"

"Chicken!" the Elf cried, "I hate chickens! Get him away from me!" He jumped into Rip's arms.

"Hello," said Rip.

"Yeah, I don't think this is the kind of birthday we were looking forward to," said Sarah.

"Hey," said Kelly, pulling out the velvet box, "at least I didn't open the 'Party in a Box.'"

The Elf took it and opened it.

Rip turned around and saw a party in the room. "Alright, what's going on? Where did all that come from?"

"Uh, it's a surprise birthday party for us!" Daniella instantly answered, "They're always surprising us. Everywhere I look…" She slowly turned to Kelly and said the rest through gritted teeth: "…there's always a surprise!"

Sophie grabbed her daughter. "Kelly, can we talk to you kids for a second?"

"Oh, no, Mom, whatever you need to say, you can say it here in front of all the witnesses."

The triplets pushed Kelly off. The other kids (except Ryan, who stayed to help their dads and Lexi and Slam with crowd control, and Jack, who was still chasing the chicken) followed them.

"What is going on?" asked Daniella, "If you'd told me that my reunion with my brother-in-law was gonna be one big three-ring-dance-party-chicken-squawking-Elf circus, I would've said 'Oh, no, thank you!'"

"We're sorry, Mom," said Robert, "We didn't mean for all this to happen."

"Yeah, you never mean it, do you?" asked Daniella, "And yet it always seems to happen!"

Wendy groaned. "We should've known better than to trust you."

Kelly looked at her, sadly. "Look, I know how much you've sacrificed for us. We just wanted to give you a special birthday, but then Uncle Skeeter sent the magic chicken that tells the future—it was just too tempting!"

"Magic is always too tempting for you, isn't it?"

"Don't tell me that never happened to you."

"That's not important."

"Wendy's right," said Daniella, "The problem isn't Uncle Skeeter or you guys opening that present from him. The problem is that it's because of that that we have to lie to our own brother-in-law about what's going on in there!"

"You were gonna have to do that anyway," pointed out Michael.

"Not like _this_. _This _is exactly what we were trying to avoid in the first place! I never wanted Rip over because I knew it was going to lead to _this_."

"We trusted you to be a little more responsible," Sophie jumped in, "And this is what we get." Sophie walked off, followed by her sisters.

Kelly was practically in tears. "I'm sorry, Mom!" She raced after them. She came back to the living room, but there was no party. "What happened?"

"I had to use the police siren chirp spell," said Ryan, "Everybody scattered."

"Where's Rip?" asked Daniella, "He didn't see you use magic, did he?"

"Oh, no!" said Tech, "He left _during_ the chaos."

"Yeah," said Lexi, "but he did have that look on his face that most people get when they're with us for more than an hour."

Daniella sighed. "Great. Now Rev's own brother hates us. Or he's confused by us. Or both."

Jack walked in. "If it helps anyone, the magic chicken finally laid the answer egg."

Kelly looked at her siblings. Then she snatched the egg. "I'll take that." She walked over to the kitchen.

"Uh, Kelly, what are you…" Jack started.

Kelly tossed the egg into the sink and turned on the garbage disposal. She turned it off and turned to the others.

"What are you doing?" Jack demanded.

"It's my lame attempt at showing Mom and our aunts that we can make sacrifices for them, too."

"Well, now we're not gonna see what happens in the next 10 years!"

"How about when the 10 years are actually up?" Michael asked.

Jack thought about that. "Oh, yeah."

"I'm sorry, Mom," said Kelly, "I'm a psychic and I didn't see this coming."

Sophie smiled. "I appreciate it anyway, Kelly. At least you tried."

"Whoo-hoo!" Sarah jumped in, "The cake's ready!"

"Sarah!" Ryan hissed, "Things are still tense!"

"Thanks for making the cake, Sarah," said Sophie. She looked at it. There were four layers, each frosted in a different color, and a bunch of different animal-shaped candy toppings (including butterflies, bunnies, penguins, elephants, etc.). "Wow, you went all out. And it looks delicious."

"Thanks. Birthday girls get first cut."

Jack and Duck stood up from behind the counter, each eating a piece of cake.

Sarah glared at them.

"It's just so good!" said Duck.

Wendy smiled. "Oh, my guys."

The doorbell rang.

Rev went to get it and came back after a little while with Rip. "Hey-guess-who-came-back!"

"You came back?" asked Daniella, surprised.

"Yeah," said Rip, "it turned into a party, so I brought…"

The rest of Rev's family ran in.

Everyone greeted one another.

"Hey, wait a minute," said Rip, "Where's the party? You're making me look bad in front of the family."

"Well, I don't wanna lie to you," said Kelly. Everyone looked at her. "The police showed up and everybody scattered."

"Great timing," said Sarah, "We're just about to sing _Happy Birthday_ and eat the cake." She glared at Jack and Duck again.

Nadine was using her power to light the candles (they made sure to put 37 on there instead 370, as if they had time to put 370 candles on there even with Rev around).

They all sang the song.

The triplets blew out all the candles.

"Did you make a wish?" Tech asked his wife, wrapping his arms around her.

"Don't have to. It already came true."

"Oh, group hug!" Nadine cried, pulling them all in.

_Now…_

"Aw, you guys and your moments," said Brenda.

"Speaking of which," said Jack, "Kelly never gave us her presents."

"Right!" Kelly ran off then came back and handed each of the kids bags.

Benny took his out. "What's this?" He pulled it out and showed it to his parents.

"Oh, it's the picture we took the day you guys were born," Lexi explained.

"What an insane day that was," said Ace.

"Well, it didn't start out that way," said Wendy, "I remember when that day started. We were all just so happy about having our precious little babies."

_16 years ago…_

Wendy groaned, clutching her engorged womb. "Someone get this thing out of here!"

Lexi smacked Duck. "You heard her, get out."

"She was talking about the baby!" He then looked at Wendy. "You were talking about the baby, right, sweetie?" She just looked at him. He then sniffed. "Ugh! What's the smell?"

Wendy was chewing some bacon. "I'm pregnant. I have gas. Deal with it."

"No, it's not that, it's worse."

"Oh," said Sophie, "Slam made a bunch of egg salad sandwiches for your guy fishing trip this afternoon."

Duck groaned. "Even the fish hate the smell of his egg salad. And they smell like fish. Why couldn't he make some of his good sandwiches?"

The other guys walked in.

"Alright-Duck," Rev said, tossing a bag in his gut, "ready-to-go-have-some-fun?"

"Well, yeah, but I have to go fishing with you guys," said Duck, throwing him the bag back.

"You sure you girls can handle being alone all day while all four of you are pregnant?" asked Ace.

"We'll be fine," said Daniella, "It's not like anything's gonna happen. We can watch some movies, play some games, read—Duck, are you sure you don't wanna stay?"

"I am now. You actually made the fishing trip sound fun."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Wow, this story sounds more interesting than all of ours," said Nadine, looking at the picture and then at her mother, "What happened?"

Lexi smiled. "I'll tell you what happened…"

_16 years ago…_

Lexi was lying on the couch, holding a plate of strawberry waffles in one hand and a can of whipped cream in the other. She spread whipped cream on the waffles. "Little more." A bunch more. "Little more." She piled it high. "And one for good luck." She squirted some in her mouth and put the whipped cream aside. She grabbed a fork and prepared to eat, but grabbed her stomach instead, letting out a groan. "Really? Now? Can't you at least wait until I finish my waffles?" Another groan. "OK, we'll do it your way." She put aside the fork and waffles and grabbed her cell phone. She dialed in a number and put it on speaker so that the other boys could hear what she was saying on the other end (Tech had, at the time, programmed their phones to where if one end was on speaker, the other end was on speaker). "Ace, it's time. The baby's coming."

_"WHAT?! Tech said you guys weren't due for at least another three weeks!"_

"Yeah, try telling them that."

_"Alright, we'll meet you at the hospital. Come on, guys, let's go."_

_"Anything to get out of this trip."_

_"No, wait, Duck, don't stand up in the canoe!"_

_"What? Why not?"_

_"AAHH!"_

_SPLASH!_

Lexi hung up. She sighed and dialed 911. "Hi, my name is Lexi Bunny." She grabbed her shoes and started moving to put them on, which was no easy feat (no pun intended) when she had to look over her womb _and_ hold the phone in one hand. "I'm calling because I've gone into labor and I'm gonna be there in a little while so I need you to hold a room for me while my husband's coming. OK? Thanks. Bye." She hung up. "OK, we're gonna do this barefoot." She picked up her shoes and her bag and left.

Wendy walked in after she was gone and saw the strawberry-and-waffles and whipped cream. She looked around. No one was there. She smiled mischievously and grabbed both and started devouring them.

_At the lake…_

The guys headed for the shuttle, all five of them soaked.

"OK!" said Duck, "I tipped over the boat. How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"

"You haven't yet," said Tech.

"But since it's an 80-mile drive to the hospital, I guess we'll find out," said Ace.

They all looked at the shuttle and saw a bear inside it.

"Is that a bear?" asked Duck, "How'd he get in the shuttle?"

Tech looked at him. "I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"

"Hsighiahglahgl get him out!" said Slam.

"We don't," said Tech, "He's the bear. He makes the decisions."

"Well, I'm the leader, I make the decisions," said Ace.

The bear roared.

"Or he can."

Rev looked at Duck. "Duck-you-said-Pinkster's-cousin-was-an-exterminator-and-once-gave-you-some-of-his-supplies-why-don't-you-deal-with-this?"

"OK, fine, when he loses 600 pounds and fits in a mousetrap! Besides, all the equipment is in the shuttle."

"Then how are we gonna get to the hospital?" asked Tech.

"I guess we'll have to start walking," said Ace, leading them off slowly so as not to startle the bear.

Slam then looked back and groaned.

Duck looked and cheered quietly. "Yes! He ate all the egg salad sandwiches. I love that bear!" He walked off, followed by the others.

_At the hospital…_

The triplets walked up to the reception desk.

"Oh, three for the maternity ward?" asked the desk lady.

Daniella looked at her. "Not yet. We're not due for a while. We're here to see Lexi Bunny."

"Oh, yeah, she's right in there."

The triplets walked into Lexi's room.

"Hey, Lex," said Sophie.

Lexi sighed. "Hey, So, Danni, W—OH!"

"I'm not that big!" Wendy snapped.

"Contraction!" She calmed down.

"Are you OK?" asked Daniella, taking her hand.

"I'm fine. Great. Brilliant. Super! Couldn't be better! At least all our ducks are in a row. And our bunnies and runners and coyotes."

_At the lake…_

The guys came into a clearing and saw two motorcycles lying there unattended.

"Oh, perfect," said Tech. He started to look around. "HEY! ANYONE HERE?!" No response. He dove for the bikes and started fiddling with the mechanisms.

"What are you doing?" asked Duck.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" asked Tech, not stopping his work, "I'm trying to hotwire the bikes."

A biker couple then walked up to them.

"Uh, Tech…" Rev started.

"What now, Re—"

Rev pulled Tech up and showed him the biker couple.

"Uh oh."

"You trying to steal our bikes?" asked the biker dude.

"Not steal," said Duck, "hotwire."

Tech glared at him. Then he turned back to the biker couple. "Look, we can explain—"

"You can explain after I gut you like a fish," said the biker gal.

The biker dude looked at her. "You want your big knife or your really big knife?"

"Surprise me."

_Now…_

Gabby was eating.

Kelly smiled. "Wow, she's really loving our birthday cake."

Jack groaned. "When she does it, it's adorable; when I do it, it's wrong."

Sarah looked at him, handing out cake. "That's because we were at a restaurant and it wasn't your cake."

"Come on, let's get back to the story!" Duck turned to Tech. "Did the bikers gut you like a fish?"

Tech looked at him. "You were there!"

"Oh, yeah…"

"Anyway," said Tech, "the bikers were coming on strong, so I had to come on stronger!"

_16 years ago…_

"Please don't hurt us!" Tech begged, "Please don't hurt us!"

"Give us one good reason why we shouldn't!" said the biker dude.

"Because it would hurt!" said Duck.

Ace glared at him, then turned back to the bikers. "You don't understand! My wife is having a baby! And there's a bear in our shuttle, that's why we're trying to borrow the bikes! Please, I can't miss the birth of my child!"

The biker dude sniffed, squinting. "That's beautiful, man!" He looked at his buddy. "We've gotta get these guys to the hospital!"

The biker gal looked at the guys. "He hasn't been the same since he took up needle-pointing."

"Thank you," said Ace, "I'm Ace, this is Tech, Slam, Rev, and Duck."

"We're Mad Dog and Francis," said the biker dude.

"Oh, nice to meet you Mad Dog," said Ace.

"I'm Francis, she's Mad Dog."

They all looked at the biker gal.

"My real name is Shirley. You call me that—"

"You'll gut us like fish?" asked Duck.

"You catch on fast."

_At the hospital…_

Lexi groaned. "Where is he? I'm starting to get worried."

"Relax, Lex," said Wendy, "I'm sure Ace will be here in a little while."

"Ace? Who cares about Ace? I'm talking about the doctor!" She grabbed the nurse's shirt. "And lady, I am not having this baby without a doctor!"

"Uh…" The nurse turned to the triplets. "Can I talk to you for a minute, Lassie?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. She followed her out of the room. "What's going on?"

"Our gynecologist is on a personal day. It's his son's birthday."

"You're telling me you only have one fertility doctor?"

"Yeah, and he's not coming."

"Oh, boy, Lexi's gonna freak." Sophie sighed, trying to pull herself together, and walked back into the room.

"Is everything OK?" asked Lexi.

"Sure! Fine! Everything's great! Yeah, except for, uh, one tiny glitch: they only have one OB-GYN and he's not coming."

Lexi thought about that. "Oh. Well. That's OK." She started getting up.

Sophie sighed. "Oh, good. 'Cause I was kind of worried that you might be—" She then noticed Lexi getting up. "What are you doing?"

"Going back to the tower. We'll just do this tomorrow."

"I don't think it works like that, Lex," said Daniella.

Lexi scoffed. "Please. The kid's been in here for nine months, it can handle one more day. Wendy, honey, be a dear and jam that shoe onto my foot."

"Whoa!" Wendy said, "Please, get back in the bed!"

"I AM NOT HAVING THIS BABY WITHOUT A DOCTOR!"

"OK! Then we'll go get him!"

Lexi smiled. "You will? Oh, that's so much better." She fell back into the bed.

The triplets raced out.

_10 minutes later…_

The triplets showed up at a house loaded with boys going crazy.

A man was trying to round them up.

Daniella approached him. "Dr. Wagner?"

He looked at her. "Yeah, who are you?"

"Uh, we're friends of the Loonatics. See, our friend, Lexi Bunny, just went into labor and she needs you down at the hospital."

"I can't. I must stay here and enjoy my son's birthday—" A ball hit him in the head. "Who threw that?!" He turned to face two of the boys. "Was it you, Tyler? Or you, Tyler?"

Wendy thought of something. "Hey, what if we make a deal? If you go down to the hospital long enough to help Lexi give birth, we'll entertain the kids while you're gone."

"How are we gonna do that?" Daniella asked.

"We'll put on a magic act."

Daniella glared at her.

"Works for me," said Dr. Wagner, "Good luck." He raced off.

Daniella kept glaring at her sister. "We're not allowed to use our magic in front of mortals."

Wendy glared back. "You didn't seem to have a problem with that when we told the guys and Lex."

"Because we knew we could trust them and that we could erase their memory if we couldn't. There's like 20 little boys in the picture for this one."

"If it's a magic act, they expect it to be an actual act." She turned to the kids. "Hey! Who wants to see a magic act?" A ball hit her in the head. She started fixing her hair. "That is a 'yes' from Tyler."

Sophie stepped up. "HEY!" Everyone stopped. "If 'Lassie' gets hit by a football, there's gonna be one less Tyler at this party."

All the boys dropped their balls.

_At the hospital…_

The guys walked up, still soaked and now covered in feathers.

The reception desk lady looked at them. "This ought to be good."

"We just drove 80 miles behind a truck loaded with live chickens on motorcycles," Ace explained.

"The chickens weren't on motorcycles, we were," Duck corrected.

"You must be here for Lexi Bunny," said the desk lady.

"How'd you know that?" asked Tech.

"Wild guess." She pointed at the room. "In there."

The bikers walked in.

"Thanks for dropping us off," said Ace, "We can handle it from here."

"Oh, we can't leave now," said Francis, "We're emotionally invested."

"And I need to grab a quick shower," said Mad Dog.

The boys went into Lexi's room and the bikers sat down.

_At the party…_

Daniella was holding up a hat.

Wendy pulled out a rabbit…then another…then another…then another…

"This is getting ridiculous!" Sophie said, stopping her.

"What are you doing?" asked Wendy, "I'm about to turn invisible."

"As if it would help. Look at them! They're bored silly! We have to stop!"

"No, we can't! These rabbits are about to be duplicated."

"They're rabbits! Give them two minutes and they'll duplicate by themselves. Just look at what happened with Ace and Lexi."

Wendy glared at her.

"That's it," said Daniella, dropping the hat, "Time for me to take matters into my own hands. I'm about to do something that I should've 15 years ago." She turned to her audience. "Hey, kids! Who wants to play pin-the-tail-on-the-Witch?"

The boys jumped up and prepared to get at Wendy.

_At the hospital…_

Francis was showing a picture to Duck. "And this is a picture of our son, Hog."

Duck looked at him. "You have a son named Hog?"

"That was his name," said Francis, putting up the picture, "He changed it to Kevin."

"Boy's been a real disappointment," said Mad Dog.

"What? Is he a criminal?"

"Worse. Vice president of marketing."

The triplets raced in.

"Has Lexi given birth yet?" asked Sophie.

"No," said Tech.

Ace came out of the room. "Hey, guys. Come on. There's someone I want you to meet."

They walked in. They stared in awe at Lexi, holding a baby while a couple nurses held two others.

"Hi," Lexi whispered, smiling, "Come in."

They walked over there.

"Say hello to our babies," said Ace, wrapping his arm around Lexi.

"Nadine, Benny, and Lucy," said Lexi.

"Can I hold one?" asked Wendy.

"Of course," Lexi said, gesturing to one of the nurses to let her hold Lucy.

Wendy took the baby bunny and looked at her. "Hi. Aw…"

The baby was adorable, with tiny little ears and hands and feet and unopened eyes.

"She's beautiful," Sophie said, smiling.

Wendy smiled, too. "I can't believe I'm actually holding a baby."

Daniella took Benny and looked at him. She smiled as she handed him to Ace. As she was handing him over, she leaned in to whisper something to him. "If he's anything like his father, he's gonna be an amazing hero."

Ace smiled and took his son.

The nurse walked in.

Tech handed her a camera. "Would you mind taking a picture?"

The nurse took the camera. "Sure. What are the babies' names?"

Lexi held up her eldest baby. "Nadine."

Ace held his son tightly. "And Benny."

Lexi smiled at the baby Wendy held. "And Lucy."

"Quite a family they have there."

They all smiled.

The nurse took the picture.

_Now…_

The gang looked at the picture. Lexi in her hospital clothes, the guys soaked with chicken feathers, and the triplets all pregnant.

"Wow," said Brenda.

"Yeah," said Lexi. She looked at her "babies." "And we haven't regretted a second of it since." She turned to Kelly. "You got a great gift here."

"Well, to be fair, these guys did set the bar pretty low."

"Aw, who cares? Group hug!" Nadine pulled them all in.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Brenda was sitting on the couch, thinking.

Jack came in and sat down next to her. "Hey."

Brenda looked at him and smiled. "Hey."

"Man, it's been a crazy week."

"You're telling me." She looked around. "Well…there's no one here. It's just us. You see where I'm going with this?"

"I think I do."

She leaned in…

"Cake!" He jumped up and ran off to get the cake.

Brenda didn't get a chance to stop leaning and fell onto the couch. She got up and looked after him. "That's not at all where I was going with that."

(Tiffany Alvord's "Possibility" plays in background)

Kelly looked at Austin down the hall. He turned to look at her, but she ducked out of the way just in time. She then rushed back to her room.

_I look at you_

_You look at me_

_I look away_

_So you can't see_

_I'm dreaming of you_

_And you don't even know_

_You don't even know_

Nadine was lying in bed, remembering when she lay there under a Nix's spell and Ryan was the one thing that got her through it.

_That I'm_

_Falling madly in love_

_With you_

_Oh, with you_

_And I_

_Wish that you were going_

_Crazy for me, too_

Lucy was writing in a notebook nonstop. She couldn't think of anything but Robert and the words just kept flowing.

_And I sit all alone in the darkest night_

_My heart is pounding and I wonder why_

_Why am I invisible?_

_Why can't you see?_

_I'm in love with you, are you in love with me?_

Sarah sat on her bed. She continuously looked at Benny's picture on her nightstand (well, actually, it was all of them together, but she was focusing on Benny). She half-smiled and finally looked down.

_You show some signs_

_But I'm not sure_

_It's a secret love_

_And you're the cure_

_I just need to know_

_What you think about me_

_About me_

Michael stared out his window like he did everyday. There'd been no sign of Madelyn ever since she'd left about eight months ago. After so much time, the chances were dropping that he'd ever see her again.

_'Cause I'm_

_Falling madly in love_

_With you_

_Oh, with you_

_And I_

_Wish that you were going_

_Crazy for me, too_

Benny walked into the living room and saw Sarah reading. He went over and sat down next to her.

She looked at him.

He smiled.

She smiled back and went back to reading.

He scooted closer.

She smiled wider.

_And I sit all alone in the darkest night_

_My heart is pounding and I wonder why_

_Why am I invisible?_

_Why can't you see?_

_I'm in love with you, are you in love with me?_

Jack stared at Brenda. He went over to her.

"Do I have to say it?" she asked.

He looked at her. "What?"

_And don't you think that maybe you and me_

_Could be a possibility_

_I just wish that, baby, you could see_

_You could see…_

"I like you, OK?" Brenda told him, "Why don't you notice that? I saw how you looked at me."

"Yeah, but you weren't looking at me back. I gave up. I didn't think a girl like you would like a guy like me."

She stared at him. "Really?"

He nodded.

She smiled. "Girl like what?"

He stared at her. "Pretty…"

She looked at him.

"Did I say that out loud?"

She smiled.

_That I'm_

_Falling madly in love_

_With you_

_Oh, with you_

Robert was in the hall outside Lucy's bedroom. Once she left, he snuck in and started flipping through her notebooks. He smiled at what he read and finally raced after her.

_And I_

_Wish that you were going_

_Crazy for me, too_

Kelly was in her music room, strumming away at a guitar while a pencil and notebook floated in midair, writing down everything she did. Finally, she stopped and looked thoughtful. She read what she'd come up with. _Did I really write that?_ She slowly started to smile and then finally put down the guitar, dropped her magic hold on the pencil and notebook, and raced out of the hidden room to find Austin.

_And I sit all alone in the darkest night_

Ryan looked around his room, making sure no one was there, and then took out a key and unlocked a drawer in his chest of drawers. He pulled out a scrapbook and started flipping through all the pictures of Nadine. "You know…some people would classify this as obsessive."

_My heart is pounding and I wonder why_

Benny and Sarah sat next to each other on the couch, occasionally sneaking glances at each other.

_Why am I invisible?_

_Why can't you see?_

Ryan and Nadine bumped into each other in the hall and smiled at each other.

_I'm in love with you, are you in love_

Kelly and Austin gazed at each other for a little while from across the hall until Kelly finally ran to kiss him.

Lucy and Robert were flipping through her notebooks, smiling.

Michael stared out the window.

_With me? _

Brenda and Jack walked into the living room, hand-in-hand behind their backs. They finally separated and Brenda went into the kitchen while Jack plopped onto the couch.

Wendy appeared behind him. "So you're crushing on Brenda."

"AAAHHH!" Jack jumped up, shocking Benny and Sarah away from each other on the couch and everyone else as they came into the room. He looked at his mother. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Sorry." She was clutching her chest. "Man, when you get scared, it scares all of us."

"I bet the labor pains couldn't top that," Sarah muttered, flipping through her book.

Wendy sighed and sat down. "Didn't I ever tell you guys about what happened when he was born?"

They all looked at her.

"See, here's what happened…"

_16 years ago…_

Wendy had set out a buffet in the kitchen. For breakfast. She had gotten out waffles and cereal and pancakes and smoothies and…well, pretty much every breakfast you can think of. It was like when the kids scared the magic chicken.

The others walked in and saw this.

"Whoa," said Daniella, "Wend, you didn't have to go to all this trouble."

"Oh, sure, I did. That's what I'm here for."

Daniella smiled.

"Now what are you guys gonna eat?"

Daniella stopped smiling. "Wendy, Slam couldn't get all of this down."

"Well, Slam isn't pregnant." She started to eat a strawberry, then stopped. "I just realized what's wrong with that sentence and now I can't eat." She dropped the strawberry and walked away.

"And let me guess," said Daniella, diving into the waffles, "you used all our ingredients for lunch on breakfast."

"Don't worry," said Duck, "I can scrounge and fix us something."

Wendy let out a scream.

"OK! I'll order takeout! Is my food really that bad?"

Wendy glared at him. "Yes, yes, it is, Duck. Enough to scare me INTO LABOR!"

Duck didn't get what she was going at. 3…2…1… "OH!" He dove for her. "It's OK! You're fine! You just gotta breathe! Breathe! Deep breaths! I know CPR!"

"DUCK!" Wendy grabbed him, stopping his rants. "I'm between contractions, I'm perfectly fine! It looks like _you're_ the one with the problem."

"What? Me? No! No problem! It's just…that…I'm gonna…be a father…" Duck fainted.

_Now…_

Wendy stopped telling the story. "Yeah, I won't go into details after that. I can't really top that."

Sarah laughed.

Lucy smiled. "Wait, what happened with Robert?"

"I guess his wasn't as bad," said Daniella.

_16 years ago…_

Daniella was reading. Between sentences, she would grab some Hershey's Kisses. Suddenly, she stopped and grabbed her stomach. "Guess I had too many." She pushed the bag of Kisses aside and went back to reading. Before she could crack the next paragraph, though, she groaned and grabbed her stomach again. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." She marked her place and put the book aside. She walked over to the hall. "REV! THE BABY'S COMING!"

"_WHAT?!_" Rev raced up to her. "I'm-not-ready-it's-too-soon-you-weren't-due-yet-oh-we've-gotta-get-you-to-the-hospital!"

"We've gotta get _you_ to the hospital," Daniella stopped his rant.

"Sorry."

"Look, we probably should get to the hospital or something but please do _not_ speed me over there when I'm between contractions—OH! OK! Now you can speed me over there!"

Rev pulled her off.

Duck walked into the room. "Danni, can you help me with…" He looked around. "Huh. Nobody's here." He thought about that. "So no one can stop me from doing this!" He raced over to the fridge, pulled out the whipped cream can and started pouring it into his beak.

Wendy walked in. "Duck!"

Duck stopped. "Uh—I—"

"Save some for me!" She raced over there, grabbed the chocolate syrup bottle, and started drinking it.

_"OK!"_

_Now…_

Kelly stopped the story. "I will ask no more."

"Yeah, I—I really can't get past that," said Lucy.

"And I guess we probably wouldn't want to get into details with Aunt Sophie giving birth?" asked Robert.

"Good guess," said Sophie, remembering how she'd died that day.

_BANG!_

"What was that?" asked Tech.

They all raced down the stairs. Just before they left the third floor, they slowed down.

"Maybe we imagined that," suggested Brenda.

"I know I heard something," said Lexi, "I'm not the kind of person whose hearing you wanna judge."

"Me either," said Austin, "I know I heard it coming from the lobby."

"Boy, it echoed," said Nadine.

"Alright," said Ace, "Tech, you go check it out. The rest of us will wait here as backup."

"Or…" said Jack, "We could hide upstairs." He ran off.

"Good idea," said Duck, following.

"I like that plan," said Wendy, following _him_.

Tech sighed, rolling his eyes, and went down into the lobby. He turned on the lights and saw a bear looking around. "Hi. Took you long enough to get back here. You here for the egg salad?" The bear nodded. "Alright, sit down." He let the bear sit down and got ready to go back to the stairs to tell the others what had happened. "Did you remember to bring back the shuttle?" The bear nodded again. "Full tank of gas?" The bear hung his head. "What? Were you raised in a cave?" The bear nodded. Tech smiled.

**THE END…?**

Well, it's done! Sorry, it was so long. Don't worry, the next one will be pretty short (especially in comparison). The one after that, however, will be relatively average in size, but the one's that follow with be for the most part longer. Then I have the spin-off in which the story size will usually be longer but could still vary. Well, hope you enjoyed it! Keep reading, reviews are appreciated, see you tomorrow!


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